SCIENTIFIC FRAUD Part II: From Past to Present, Facts and Analyses

Abstract

Scientific fraud has increased dramatically in recent times. The main reason has been the exponential increase of the number of researchers, that has greatly exceeded the increase in available resources. This has generated a situation of extreme competition that has dramatically increased the tendency to commit FFP acts. In comparison with the situation in the (distant) past, described in the accompanying contribution (Part I), in which scientific misconduct as a rule concerned research on themes of great significance, today the misconduct generally concerns petty fraudulent acts meant to give the fraudster personal advantages that are frequently illusory. Other factors, more technical in nature, are also having roles in today’s great increase of misconduct cases. Important among them are the ease with which they are now discovered thanks to impressive technological advances in their detection, and the appearance and rapid proliferation of open access predatory journals which do not follow the established peer review publication rules. Cases that deal with themes of great general significance do still occur, and some are examined in this article. At variance with those analysed in Part I they are now rapidly solved by the technical resources available today.