"Tired of receiving 10 emails a day encouraging him to publish his studies in obscure scientific journals, last November the mathematician Pascual Diago decided to give it a try. His specialty is teaching school mathematics, but he accepted an invitation from the Clinical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It took him just a few minutes, using ChatGPT, to generate a delusional six-page text about supposed experiments to alleviate anxiety in 60 pregnant women and their fetuses with mathematical metaphors."
"In the article's references, he included non-existent studies, four of them attributed to the fictitious author Me-Lo I Nvent O (I Make It Up). The paper was published a few days later. Diago, an associate professor at the University of Valencia, explained by phone that his intention was somewhere between a joke and a denunciation of so-called predatory journals, fraudulent publications that present themselves as prestigious and publish anything in exchange for money. It's a growing business."
"The list of predatory journals exceeded 20,000 this Tuesday, according to a count by the specialized firm Cabells. Five years ago there were 15,000. Seven years ago, 10,000. No serious institution takes them into account, but the figures show that they have carved out a niche in the global scientific system."
A mathematician used an AI tool to produce a fabricated six-page account of imaginary experiments linking mathematics metaphors to pregnant women and fetuses. The submission included invented references and fictitious author names that signaled a hoax, yet a clinical journal accepted and published the piece within days. Predatory journals routinely present themselves as reputable and will publish content in exchange for money. The number of such journals has grown sharply, exceeding 20,000, illustrating an expanding niche for low-quality, profit-driven outlets within the global scientific ecosystem.
Read at english.elpais.com
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