Organisations known as “paper mills” operate through messaging platforms and social media to sell fraudulent academic credentials and research outputs to individuals seeking to advance their professional profiles. These services include listing people as authors on fabricated scientific papers, often priced at relatively low costs, with research indicating a median authorship fee of approximately US$800. The operations have expanded significantly, with estimates suggesting paper mill activity has doubled roughly every 18 months over the past 15 years.
Dr Reese Richardson and colleagues analysed more than 18,000 advertisements from seven paper mills across seven countries spanning 2020 to 2026, representing the largest dataset of paper mill marketing materials compiled to date. Their findings reveal that fraudulent authorship can be purchased for as little as US$30 on various platforms including Telegram, Facebook and dedicated websites. The researchers note that articles produced through these channels typically bypass standard peer review processes, either because participating journals lack such mechanisms or because editors are complicit in the schemes.
Beyond scientific manuscripts, paper mills also facilitate fraud in intellectual property registration systems. The research identified instances where design registrations were advertised as legitimate Australian patents by operators based in India, with services offered to add multiple individuals as “owners” for between $95 and $150 per person. The applications subsequently appear on academic and professional resumes, potentially misrepresenting individuals’ involvement in genuine intellectual property development.
The proliferation of fraudulent research has introduced significant contamination into scientific literature, with major publishers retracting thousands of articles in recent years. In 2023 alone, Hindawi retracted more than 8,000 articles, followed by an additional 3,000 retractions by the end of 2024. This systematic injection of falsified data poses risks to medical research, drug discovery and clinical trials. Richardson indicated his research serves as a foundation for understanding paper mill operations and identifying their targets, while IP Australia acknowledged the need to examine whether its registration systems are being misused.
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