Fraud by Proxy: How Paper Mills Sell Authorship and IP Rights in Science
Scientists warn of a growing “paper mill” industry that sells fraudulent authorship and even design registrations for IP, often via Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. A new dataset covering 18,000 ads from seven mills across seven countries (2020–2026) shows prices for authorship around $800 on average (with some as low as $30), and indicates papers frequently bypass peer review. The scam also extends to intellectual property, with fraudulent design registrations marketed as legitimate Australian design patents. The practice contributes to a massive pollution of the scientific record, evidenced by thousands of retractions in recent years, and experts warn that detecting and stopping these operations remains a major challenge.