An explosion in citations led researcher to a worrying discovery

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

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“I think it’s completely wrong,” says NTNU Professor Andrea Riebler. She is concerned about the growing trend of private companies selling tools and AI-based services that enable anyone to produce new “research”. 

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Credit: Sølvi W. Normannsen / NTNU

Scientific papers are a researcher's most valuable currency, and a paper published in a respected journal can represent several years of work. Based on her own experience, Professor Andrea Riebler is concerned about the growing trend of buying ready-made research tools online.

"We found evidence for decentralized mass production of papers based on secondary analysis of public health data," explains the researcher.

“In their tools they also seem to use our work, which is how we found out about the software and how the research started.”

Worrying developments

“In our case, we're talking about software that makes it possible to quickly produce simple, standardised analyses and research papers using public health databases. The analyses may be methodologically sound, but the development is worrying nonetheless,” says Riebler, a statistician at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU's) Department of Mathematical Sciences.

The work cannot be properly checked for quality because the authors do not share their source code.

The papers are based on secondary analyses, which presents challenges. The data were originally collected by other researchers, and Riebler questions whether every possible combination of the different types of data available in these databases produces relevant or interesting research.

A soaring number of citations

Riebler herself uses data from large registries to identify patterns and potential trends in disease, child mortality and survival analysis across different geographical regions.

In 2017, she published the paper “Projecting the future burden of cancer: Bayesian age–period–cohort analysis with integrated nested Laplace approximations” together with Professor Leonhard Held at the University of Zurich.

Riebler had developed software for calculating age-specific forecasts of disease incidence or mortality based on historical data. The source code was freely available, and she had documented how to use it.

In the years that followed, the paper was cited frequently enough to demonstrate that it had made an impact among other researchers.

But then something happened.

The number of citations suddenly soared, from 70 in 2024 to more than 250 the following year.

From cancer burden to diabetes and stroke

Researchers are usually delighted when their work attracts large numbers of citations. But something didn't seem right.

The new papers followed a pattern. Almost all came from Chinese researchers, and most were based on data from the international Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project.

What was peculiar was that the researchers were using GBD data to produce an apparently endless series of forecasts.

The subjects ranged from global, national and regional stroke risk among adults over 20 to testicular cancer in young adults, falls among older people in China, and colorectal cancer associated with very low wholegrain consumption, amongst others.

“Many of the papers had the same structure. Their titles were similar, with variations relating to different diseases," says Riebler.

“Some of the graphics were based on the same model we used, and their design was very similar to the one I used in my software package. That's unlikely to be a coincidence.”

The trail led to China

Researchers Peter Methys Degen, Andrea Riebler and Leonhard Held followed the trail from the cancer paper, which eventually led them to China.

They have now published a paper entitled “Paper mill or paper mine? A tentative answer to the sharp increase in research papers based on the Global Burden of Disease database” in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

“In one of the more than 700 GBD papers we examined, we found a reference to a commercial software package from China. The package includes instructions for doing exactly what has been done in a great many of the other papers,” says Andrea Riebler.

Research papers in two hours

In the Guangzhou region of China, a company is selling software, AI-powered writing assistance, and instructions that appear to be based on Riebler's research.

The company advertises that its tools make it possible to write research funding applications in just a few minutes, or produce scientific research suitable for publication in under two hours.

The authors also identified two other software packages serving similar purposes, sold by Chinese companies.

Combined with the AI-powered writing assistance these companies also offer, this raises concerns about how scientific publications are being produced, according to the NTNU professor.

“This opens up a new way of mass-producing ‘research’,” she says.

Drowning in AI-generated papers

“We're not saying that the results are wrong,” Riebler emphasises.

“The question is whether each individual paper is scientifically relevant and useful, particularly given the enormous volume of publications we're now seeing.”

Overburdened editors at reputable scientific journals believe that mass-produced and AI-generated research is threatening to overwhelm the peer-review system.

The American technology news website The Verge has covered Riebler and her colleagues' findings.

The article describes how journals are drowning in AI-generated submissions. The problem is both the sheer volume of papers and the fact that it is becoming almost impossible to identify which ones were produced using artificial intelligence.

We're not saying that the results are wrong. The question is whether each individual paper is scientifically relevant and useful, particularly given the enormous volume of publications we're now seeing.

The peer-review system could collapse

“It’s a huge burden on the peer-review system, which is already at the limit. There’s just too many papers being published and there’s not enough peer reviewers, and if the LLMs make it so much easier to mass produce papers, then this will reach a breaking point,” postdoctoral researcher Peter Methys Degen told The Verge.

The journal Accountability in Research, which focuses on research integrity and promoting ethical research practices, has experienced a 60 per cent increase in submissions in 2026.

According to one of its editors, David Resnik, the journal is being bombarded – ironically – with papers that are probably AI-generated and that deal with research misconduct.

"I’m very worried about this straining, breaking the back of the peer-review system", said Resnik to The Verge.

Difficult to detect

NTNU researcher Andrea Riebler is herself a member of the editorial boards of two scientific journals. Her inbox, too, is filling up with submissions.

“Then there's the question of whether it really matters if a paper is written by a language model or a human, as long as the content is correct. I don't know the answer to this.

“The problem is the enormous volume of submissions. We're already struggling to find peer reviewers, and the situation is getting progressively worse,” says the statistics professor.

Violating a fundamental principle of research

“It's not just data from the Global Burden of Disease project that are being exploited. The same applies to several other major health databases that were established with good intentions and are free and easy to use. It's frightening that this is happening,” she says.

For 99 per cent of the papers Riebler and her colleagues examined, the source code was not provided.

This means the research cannot be reproduced, violating a fundamental scientific principle intended to ensure accountability, transparency and quality.

The researchers are calling for better monitoring of online platforms that offer ready-made research tools.

“Sharing code should be mandatory,” says Andrea Riebler.

Referanse:
Peter Methys Degen, Andrea Riebler, Leonhard Held: «Paper mill or paper mine? A tentative answer to the sharp increase in research papers based on the Global Burden of Disease database» https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112464

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Journal

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

DOI

10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112464

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Paper mill or paper mine? A tentative answer to the sharp increase in research papers based on the Global Burden of Disease database

 

FIU scientists uncover hidden extinction risks in the deep sea

Florida International University

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Researchers from Florida International University analyzed genetic information from 486 marine specimens to understand how populations of certain lanternfish and deep-sea shrimp have changed over time and how vulnerable they may be to future environmental pressures. 

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Credit: Florida International University

New genetic evidence suggests marine life in the deep Gulf may be more vulnerable than previously believed.

A biodiversity crisis is unfolding across the planet, but the deep sea was thought immune and even a refuge for marine life. New research led by Florida International University scientists suggests that assumption may be alarmingly wrong.

By examining more than a decade of genetic data, the research team uncovered troubling signs of extinction risk among five species living hundreds of meters beneath the surface of the Gulf, raising the possibility that a biodiversity crisis is also unfolding in one of the planet's largest and least understood habitats. Led by FIU marine scientist Pedro A. Peres from the Bracken-Grissom Lab, the study examined three species of lanternfish and two species of deep-sea shrimp collected between 2011 and 2023.

Researchers analyzed genetic information from 486 specimens to understand how populations have changed over time and how vulnerable they may be to future environmental pressures. This is one of only a few studies to examine how the DNA of deep sea animals has changed over time, according to Peres.

All five species exhibited genetic warning signs associated with elevated extinction risk, Peres said. One lanternfish species, Diaphus dumerilii, lost approximately 8% of its genetic diversity over 12 years — a decline comparable to or greater than losses documented in some threatened and endangered animals over much longer periods. The researchers also found that each species had a relatively small effective population size. This doesn't mean there are necessarily few animals. It means relatively few individuals are contributing genetically to future generations.

This challenges the idea that deep-sea species are naturally more resilient because they occupy such vast environments,” Peres said. “It shows how much we can miss when we look only at population abundance without considering their genetic diversity and long-term viability.”

Genetic diversity is essential to a species' survival, according to Heather Bracken-Grissom, assistant director of the Institute of Environment’s Coastlines and Oceans Division. A co-author of this study, she has spearheaded the research investigating the genetic diversity and resilience of deep-sea species.

“Genetic diversity provides the variation populations need to adapt to changing conditions, resist disease and recover from environmental disturbances,” she said. “When that diversity disappears, a species can also lose the ability to withstand future threats.”

The researchers used climate models to predict how suitable the Gulf's deep-sea habitats may become by 2050 and 2100. Four of the five species could experience significant shrinking of suitable habitat in the Gulf — as much as 70%. The findings are particularly concerning, Peres said, because deep-sea species have traditionally been assumed to maintain large, resilient populations due to their extensive habitats and broad distributions.

The research also raises questions about the lasting effects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Previous studies documented substantial declines in deep-sea animal populations following the disaster.

Although the researchers do not directly attribute the genetic changes to the spill, the findings suggest environmental disturbances may have consequences that persist long after the immediate damage.

“Our results suggest some deep-sea populations may have already been genetically vulnerable before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Peres said. “This has important implications for understanding the consequences of environmental disturbances. Events such as oil spills may affect populations that already have limited genetic resilience.”

The study also includes co-authors Keith Sellers from FIU and Tracey T. Sutton from Nova Southeastern University. The findings demonstrate how genetic monitoring can reveal conservation threats that traditional population surveys might miss.

“This study serves as a wake-up call for the scientific community,” Peres said, “highlighting the urgent need to integrate genetic monitoring into biodiversity assessments and emphasizing the importance of long-term monitoring to better understand and detect changes in marine populations over time.”

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-79098-0

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Extinction risks in deep-sea populations revealed by genomic data and ecological niche modeling

Article Publication Date

12-Nov-2026

 

Product for controlling agricultural pests proves harmful to iconic banana slug

Oregon State University

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Pacific banana slug

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Credit: Casey Richart, OSU

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University say a product used to control pest slugs on farms in multiple countries is harmful to an iconic West Coast slug and that more research is needed before the product is approved for use in the United States.

Dee Denver and Emily Taylor of the OSU College of Science led a laboratory study that showed the effect of a biotool marketed as Nemaslug on Pacific banana slugs.

Ranging from Alaska to California, the Pacific banana slug is the world’s second largest terrestrial slug, smaller only than Europe’s ash-black slug. Pacific banana slugs, one of several banana slug species within the genus Ariolimax, can reach lengths of nearly 10 inches.

Also among banana slugs’ claims to fame is being the mascot for athletic teams at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“It’s a pretty iconic and charismatic species,” said Denver, adding with a smile, “at least for a slug.”

The original Nemaslug is based on the organism Pellioditis hermaphrodita, a species of tiny, parasitic worm known as a nematode. The parasites enter small openings in the bodies of pest slugs such as the gray field slug, fatally infect them, then reproduce inside the dead host and disperse in search of new hosts.

A follow-up product, Nemaslug 2.0, is based on a similar nematode, P. californica, which was discovered in 2013 as a species new to science.

Presently, Nemaslug is sold in Kenya (as Slugtech) and throughout Canada (as NemaNights) and Europe, and Nemaslug 2.0 is available in England, Scotland, Wales, Austria and Germany. Efforts are under way to bring the products to the U.S. as well, said Denver, professor of integrative biology.

“They are currently not permitted in the United States due to limited knowledge on their effects on non-target and native species and on their North American distribution,” Denver said.

In 2018, a paper by some of the same collaborators described the first report of P. hermaphrodita in Oregon, and in 2024, another paper was the first report of a P. californica in Washington state. Denver and co-author Rory McDonnell of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences found P. californica in Oregon for the first time during a 2018-19 nematode survey.

How widespread either species is in the Northwest has not been determined, Denver said.

Denver, McDonnell, Taylor and their collaborators – biologists and crop and soil scientists at OSU – note that the history of biocontrol of agricultural pest snails and slugs is somewhat checkered, in part because unintended consequences for non-target species remain understudied and hard to predict.

One biocontrol effort involving the introduction of a non-native snail, they point out, led to the extinction of hundreds of native snail species on Hawai‘i and other Pacific islands.

The current study, which builds on earlier research showing P. hermaphrodita’s deadliness to another native Northwest species, the Pacific sideband snail, explored the effects of both Nemaslug products on a total of 178 juvenile and adult banana slugs collected at the Oregon coast in spring 2024.

The original Nemaslug, the one based on P. hermaphrodita, killed every banana slug exposed to it. Banana slugs were also vulnerable to Nemaslug 2.0, the product based on P. californica, though it was not uniformly lethal. However, there was 80% mortality among the juvenile slugs exposed to Nemaslug 2.0.

In contrast, nearly all of the unexposed, control group slugs lived through the duration of the 38-day experiment: 84% of unexposed juveniles and 96% of adults.

“This research has pretty big implications for biodiversity conservation,” said Taylor, an OSU graduate student during the study and now a researcher at Oregon Health & Science University. “The Northwest, due to its rainy climate, is a terrestrial gastropod hotspot.”

Terrestrial slugs and snails make up more than one-third of the total documented animal species extinctions since the year 1500, Denver said.

“Beyond factors like rising global temperatures and habitat loss,” he said, “gastropods have historically suffered greatly from poorly designed and executed biocontrol attempts.”

Also collaborating on this research, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and published in PLOS One, were Dana Howe of the College of Forestry, Indira Kulkarni Ebner of the College of Science, and Casey Richart of the College of Agricultural Sciences.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0361391

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Two Pellioditis biocontrol nematode species infect Ariolimax columbianus, the Pacific banana slug, and increase mortality in laboratory infectivity trials

Article Publication Date

11-Nov-2026

 

Generous EU funding for innovative 3D printing

University of Freiburg

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Bastian Rapp (left) and Jürgen Rühe (right) aim to transform the field of plastics processing with innovative and sustainable 3D printing technology. Photo: Silvia Wolf / University of Freiburg

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Credit: Silvia Wolf / University of Freiburg

Prof. Dr. Bastian Rapp and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe have received a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The European Union (EU) will provide funding for their joint research project ‘CHiC2PRINT’, which combines innovative, sustainable 3D printing technology with high-performance and inexpensive plastics from industrial production. Rapp is professor for process technology and Rühe professor for the chemistry and physics of interfaces at the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Engineering.

The funding will run for six years and amount to ten million euros. The ERC awards Synergy Grants to interdisciplinary research teams whose project fulfils the criterion of scholarly excellence and may be expected to produce highly innovative results. This year, 48 of more than 950 submitted proposals were selected for funding.

Virtually limitless geometries

’We’re absolutely thrilled about this funding’, says Rapp. ‘We’re in the process of writing a new chapter of 3D printing technology: Soon it will be possible to produce objects in established plastic systems much faster than is currently possible with injection moulding.’ Up to now, classical injection moulding has enabled the cost-effective production of robust plastic products, but the technology is limited in its ability to produce complex shapes. 3D printing, by contrast, allows virtually limitless geometries but often requires special materials or expensive production processes. Rapp, Rühe, and their international research team have set their sights on overcoming these limits.

A materials technology trick

To achieve this, the researchers are developing a technology that allows commercially available plastics to be structured through targeted exposure to light. Unlike in conventional 3D printing, the material is not built up layer by layer. Instead, complex structures are created directly within an existing plastic object through the use of light. The basis for this is so-called volumetric printing. This technique is combined with a materials technology trick from photochemistry that allows commercial plastics to be made light-sensitive – thus making them accessible for 3D printing. In the long term, this could lead to components whose shape and properties can be precisely adjusted, for example with varying degrees of strength within a single workpiece.

Entirely new approaches

Another important aspect of the technique is the sustainability of the materials used. Until now, 3D-printed objects have generally not been recyclable and must be incinerated or disposed of in landfills, making them problematic from an environmental standpoint. In the project, the objects produced are to be completely disassembled into individual components at the end of their life cycle (‘debonding’). The individual components are separated in such a way that the original plastics can be recovered and reprocessed. ‘The ERC grant is a great incentive for us to develop innovative and sustainable 3D printing techniques’, says Rühe. ‘The combination of novel printing technology that sounds almost like science fiction with entirely new approaches to making a wide range of materials 3D-printable and much more sustainable could revolutionize the entire field of plastics processing.’

 

ABOUT THE RESEARCHERS

Prof. Dr. Bastian Rapp is professor for process technology at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University of Freiburg. His research interests include additive manufacturing, the development of new materials systems such as functional glasses, the miniaturization of components, and microsystems engineering. He is managing director of the Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF) and co-founder of the spin-off Glassomer GmbH, which offers next-generation 3D printing techniques for glass. In 2019 he received an ERC Consolidator Grant for his work on tactile displays for the visually impaired.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe is professor for the chemistry and physics of interfaces at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University of Freiburg. His research interests include new approaches to surface coating in which the combination of surface chemistry and microstructuring results in entirely new materials. Rühe is managing director of the Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies (FIT). He is spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence livMatS, which studies adaptive materials systems, and co-spokesperson of the DFG research training group BioBuild, which develops new materials for adaptive architecture. For his work in the field of surface modification, he received the DECHEMA prize from the Max Buchner Research Foundation, among other awards.

 

$3.8M NIH grant to test gardening, cooking program for heart health

The ‘Food as Medicine’ program will test whether a remote program focused on gardening, cooking skills, nutrition education, and peer support can help adults at risk for cardiovascular disease build healthier habits

Penn State

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HERSHEY, Pa, — Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death around the world, according to the World Health Organization, and is strongly influenced by diet and physical activity. However, roughly only one in 10 American adults meet the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and about half get the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Knowledge alone often isn’t enough to produce lasting behavior change, said Susan Veldheer, associate professor of family and community medicine and of public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Yet most health programs focus on teaching people what they need to do to improve their health, and often the activities recommended may not be enjoyable or meaningful to the people who are trying to change their behavior.

Now, with a five-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health, Veldheer and Amy Moore, assistant professor of nutritional sciences and food science at Penn State and co-principal investigator of the study, will lead a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Penn State in determining if starting with an activity that people are interested in, like gardening, can help lead to behavior change and improved health.

The grant includes a randomized controlled trial of the program, developed by the researchers and called “Growing Healthy Hearts” to test whether gardening, cooking, nutrition education, and social support can help people build healthier habits and whether these healthier habits extend beyond participants to positively influence the health of children living in their households. The program is not mean as a replacement for standard clinical care.

“Growing Healthy Hearts is grounded in behavioral science showing that enjoyment and intrinsic motivation are important for sustained behavior change,” Veldheer said. “When gardeners are asked why they garden, enjoyment is often the primary reason. They may enjoy being outdoors, spending time with their children, growing their own food or connecting with nature — reasons that have little to do with preventing disease. Yet, through gardening, they may also become more physically active, eat more vegetables and develop healthier eating habits.”

Growing Healthy Hearts takes a “food as medicine” approach, integrating food and nutrition interventions with healthcare to prevent, manage or treat chronic health conditions. The program also uses remote delivery to provide participants with the skills, resources, confidence and social support they need to help them succeed.

In a pilot study of the program, participants, who were all new to gardening, successfully harvested their produce and developed new healthy habits. Those who took part in the program ate nearly one additional cup of fruits and vegetables per day and took approximately 1,000 more steps per day than those in the control group.

With this new NIH grant, the research team will recruit 264 participants with at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, who eat few fruits and vegetables, who have low physical activity, who have at least one child living at home, and who are interested in learning how to garden and grow their own food. Participants will be randomized to the Growing Healthy Hearts group or a waitlist control group. Researchers will follow up with participants at six months and one year to assess diet, physical activity and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health.

“Many Food as Medicine programs focus on increasing access to healthy foods, which is an important first step, but access alone may not be enough to support lasting changes in health behaviors,” Moore said. “Knowing how to prepare and incorporate those foods into everyday meals can make that access even more meaningful. By combining gardening, cooking, and nutrition education, we're helping participants build practical skills and confidence to make healthy eating part of their daily lives. Since many families shop, cook and eat together, we're also interested in whether the changes participants make can positively influence the food choices and health behaviors of their children.”

The program will be delivered through a private Facebook group, which serves as both the intervention platform and community. Social media platforms are widely used in daily life but remain underutilized for delivering evidence-based nutrition and behavior-change programs, the researchers explained.

By using a familiar platform, the researchers will provide education, skill-building and peer support in a setting that may already be a part of people’s daily lives. The approach may be particularly beneficial for people living in rural communities, where access to health promotion programs, nutrition education and affordable fresh produce can be limited.

“Most nutrition and lifestyle programs are delivered in person in clinics, classrooms or community settings,” Moore said. “We're interested in whether social media platforms can also serve as effective learning environments. If successful, this approach could make evidence-based programs accessible to families regardless of where they live.”

Penn State Extension master gardeners and culinary nutrition experts will moderate the Facebook group, where participants will receive ongoing education over six months on growing and preparing healthy foods. Penn State Extension educators will help participants develop practical gardening and food preparation skills, offering guidance tailored to their available growing space, geographic location, and individual circumstances.

“One of the most exciting aspects of this collaboration is the opportunity to combine rigorous health research with Penn State’s land-grant mission,” Veldheer said. “By working closely with Penn State Extension, we can study not only whether Growing Healthy Hearts improves health, but also how it might eventually be delivered to families and communities across Pennsylvania and beyond.”

Additional Penn State collaborators on the grant include William Calo, associate professor of public health sciences and of family and community medicine; Jordan Kurth, assistant professor of medicine; Meg Bruening, professor and department head of nutritional sciences; and Elise Gurgevich, assistant director, food, families and communities programs at Penn State Extension.

This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research under award number 1R01NR022295-01. This content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.