Trust The Science, Trust the science, trust the science . . . | “Hindawi and Wiley to retract over 500 papers linked to peer review rings” | Retraction Watch

‘After months of investigation that identified networks of reviewers and editors manipulating the peer review process, Hindawi plans to retract 511 papers across 16 journals, Retraction Watch has learned.

The retractions, which the publisher and its parent company, Wiley, will announce tomorrow in a blog post, will be issued in the next month, and more may come as its investigation continues. They are not yet making the list available.

Hindawi’s research integrity team found several signs of manipulated peer reviews for the affected papers, including reviews that contained duplicated text, a few individuals who did a lot of reviews, reviewers who turned in their reviews extremely quickly, and misuse of databases that publishers use to vet potential reviewers.

Richard Bennett, vice president of researcher and publishing services for Hindawi, told us that the publisher suspects “coordinated peer review rings” consisting of reviewers and editors working together to advance manuscripts through to publication. Some of the manuscripts appeared to come from paper mills, he said.

We asked what prompted the investigation. Bennett told us:

In April 2022, Hindawi’s Research Integrity team led an initial investigation into a single Special Issue (SI) after a Chief Editor raised concerns about some of the papers published in it. The team decided to investigate the content of the journal further. Through this investigation, the team highlighted a pattern of irregular and concerning reviewer activity and identified potential ‘bad actors’ that were present across many of these publications.

These concerns prompted the Publishing Insights and Research Integrity teams, enabled by recently enhanced analytic capabilities and newly developed dashboards providing views across all reviewer activity, to conduct a wider investigation to determine whether these same bad actors were involved in peer review manipulation elsewhere in the Hindawi portfolio.

Following the discovery that these bad actors were present in other journals, the Hindawi leadership team put in place a cross-functional working team combining the manual and data-driven investigation which resulted in the identification of further published articles.

In early August, Hindawi expanded the investigation under a combined investigation team comprising Research Integrity experts, data and analytics experts, publishing and operational teams, and legal counsel from both Wiley and Hindawi. This team evaluated in depth review activity across all potentially impacted articles and manuscripts. This resulted in a list of ‘compromised’ reviewers and editors in addition to the bad actors already discovered, identification of networks that exist between them, patterns of review activity, and insight into published articles and manuscripts at each stage in the review process that we could initially label as ‘compromised’. On September 6, the combined investigation team began assessing published articles which led to the initial recommendation to retract 511 articles that are compromised based on reviewer activity alone. We expect ongoing investigations to result in further retractions.’

 Exclusive: Hindawi and Wiley to retract over 500 papers linked to peer review rings | Retraction Watch

Skip The Scoop | Seek Understanding

Highest French Court Rules Killer of Jewish Woman Cannot Stand Trial

Show Me

Michigan: ‘Strongest public health order in the Midwest’ now requires masks for 2-year-olds

Show Me

Maryland adds 1,500 COVID cases while positivity ticks up, hospitalizations decline

Show Me

Worldwide COVID-19 death toll tops 3 million

Show Me

US Army Prepares for Possible Global Land Conflict with China

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition | Recorded April 17, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 49 Seconds

Show Me

U.S. Intel Walks Back Claim Russians Put Bounties on American Troops

Show Me

‘Mysterious headless beast’ spotted in a tree in Poland turns out to be a CROISSANT

Show Me

Schiff and Swalwell Went All in on the Dubious Russia Bounty Story

Show Me

Progressive group ramps up pressure on Justice Breyer to retire

Show Me

Trump Ally Vernon Jones Announces Run for Georgia Governor

Show Me

Most Colorado counties loosened COVID-19 restrictions Friday, despite rising hospitalizations

Show Me

How a podcast helped police find alleged killer of California student gone missing in 1996

Show Me

Alleged sex trafficking victim may be cooperating with feds in Matt Gaetz investigation, ex-girlfriend says

Show Me

The Justice Department sues Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally, alleging tax evasion.

Show Me

Lance Armstrong stands by son accused of sexual assault

Show Me

White House: Ambassador won’t be punished for publicly linking U.S. founding to ‘white supremacy’

Show Me

April 16, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 54 Minutes 48 Seconds

Show Me

April 16, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 54 Minutes 48 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded April 16, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 27 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded April 16, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 49 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded April 15, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds

Show Me

SolarWinds hack got emails of top DHS officials, AP sources say

Show Me

Multiple people shot at FedEx facility in Indianapolis

Show Me

(CENSORED) James O’Keefe of Project Veritas

Show Me

Fox News hires high-profile defense team in Dominion defamation lawsuit

Show Me

Facebook Faces Formal Irish Privacy Probe Into Data Leak

Show Me

Mike Lindell: Free, Clean Speech Social Media Site Set to Launch Monday

Show Me

YouTube Suspends Rebel News over ‘Election Misinformation’

Show Me

Kristen Clarke, Bigot and Liar

Show Me

Border Agents Report Being Overworked, Understaffed And Exposed To COVID-19 During Migrant Surge

Show Me

Sub-Saharan Africa: The devastating impact of conflicts compounded by COVID-19 

Show Me

Texas Ranchers Dealing With Armed Smugglers on Land

Show Me

Trump-supporting ex-Democrat Vernon Jones to run against Gov. Kemp in Georgia GOP primary

Show Me

Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, Among 10 HK Dissidents to Be Sentenced Over Outlawed Pro-Democracy Protest

Show Me

Facebook’s Oversight Board Will Remove Posts Flagged By Users

Show Me

BBC Diversity Chief Declares Idris Elba Character Not Black Enough to Be ‘Authentic’

Show Me

Chelsea Clinton calls on Facebook to ban Tucker Carlson

Show Me

BREAKING: Facebook Blocks New York Post Story About BLM Founder Spending Millions On Luxury Homes

Show Me

April 15, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 49 Minutes 02 Seconds

Show Me