Paper Mill Studies Cited in 480 Patents and Clinical Guidelines, Analysis Finds
nicklaslundblad · x · 2026-09-20
- An arXiv analysis cited by Retraction Watch tracked 1,975 papers coauthored by the Pharmakon Neuroscience Network (PNN), a suspected authorship-for-sale scheme, and found 480 cited in patents, 57 in policy documents, and 12 in clinical guidelines.
- PNN-affiliated papers began appearing in 2019, often with coauthors from different countries and with no prior collaboration history — a hallmark of paper mills.
- A separate recent study suggests just over 400 U.S. patents reference retracted papers. Research integrity expert Malcolm Macleod of the University of Edinburgh called the situation "a problem for sure."
- Poster nicklaslundblad argues that as paper mills, chatbot-mediated contributions, and autonomous data curation blur scientific authorship, downstream institutions may require machine-readable provenance extending beyond journal disclosures and citations to trace claims through purchased authorship.
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