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A global surge in fraudulent research papers, exceeding 10,000 retractions last year, has become an international scandal. Originating in China, the issue has spread to other regions, with "paper mills" producing fabricated studies. Bribes to editors and infiltration of fraudulent agents exacerbate the problem. Major publishers are taking action, but financial incentives for researchers to publish persist. The escalating prevalence of sham science is eroding the foundation of trustworthy scientific knowledge, prompting calls for systematic solutions to address this growing threat to the integrity of research.

A recent investigation by Science Magazine exposes a rise of paper mills resorting to bribery and corruption to secure publication of fake or substandard papers. These organizations pay off journal editors, leading to a network of deceitful practices that threaten the integrity of scholarly publishing. The investigation reveals widespread involvement of editors and prestigious institutions in accepting bribes. Such unethical practices bypass the peer-review process, undermining the quality and reliability of published research.

In the book "Corruption in Higher Education: Global Challenges and Responses," 34 experts shed light on various corruption issues in higher education: contract cheating and outsourcing assignments; ambivalent hiring processes; fake universities that take various forms, from profit-driven schemes to students buying degrees without fulfilling obligations; corruption research involves scholars, administrators, and agencies, united against academic corruption. Future steps include integrity theory development, examining secondary education's impact, leveraging technology, avoiding social group stigmatization, and fostering global cooperation.

A student developed his own artificial intelligence (AI) app to stop cheating using essay-writing bots. After a project on his university course asked him to integrate AI with education, he felt the need to create the software start-up AIED.UK to prevent inequality in academic settings. The student thinks of AIED.UK as a "transitional phase" to prevent cheating whilst universities adapt to new technologies.

Under the new measures approved on academic integrity for all its candidates, all Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members standing for election will have to list their degrees and sign an academic ethics statement declaring that they did not engage in plagiarism, falsification or ghostwriting when writing their theses. This follows the revoke of various doctoral degrees of DPP members for plagiarism allegations.

Online academic cheating services that offer to do assignments for less than AU$100 are targeting international students in Australia doing vocational courses at private colleges, including those that don’t require class attendance. According to the law introduced in September 2020, providers found to be selling or advertising contract cheating services can face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $110,000. Higher education providers are urging the federal government to extend this legislation to the Vocational Education and Training sector.

According to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, there are over 1,000 essay mills in operation in UK universities. The government announced that offering essay-writing services to students for a fee will become a criminal offence under plans to tackle cheating. Universities welcomed this decision and introduced codes of conduct with severe penalties for submitting work that is not a student's own.