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The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) revealed that about 100 fake professors were discovered in the university system. Academics across the country expressed their surprise by asking for concrete evidence. However, according to a Ph.D. student at the Nasarawa State University, the revelation by the NUC Secretary may be targeting the hundreds of professors parading themselves in government offices who have not conducted any research or teaching in the last 20 years.

Academic corruption exists in doctoral education even though this should reflect the highest standards of academic integrity. Doctoral degrees have become especially popular among politicians, state bureaucrats, civil servants and people seeking employment in academia. An entire market has formed in Ukraine that offers ghostwritten dissertations to order. This market consists of not only individuals but also officially registered firms. If in 2009, there were 16 such firms, by 2016 the number tripled, reaching 46.

A new Ministry of Education regulation to punish academic fraud has come into effect to clamp down on plagiarism and fabricating research data, as well as buying, selling or organizing trade in academic degree theses, including all forms of "ghostwriting" or buying of materials produced by essay mills.

When professors need to author research papers to get promoted, many turn to Ghost Writers, writes Gillian Wong for Associated Press.

Strong demand for ghost-written academic papers in the lead-up to university graduation and revelations that people pay to have scholarly articles published are worrying critics who fear the billion-yen industry is making it harder than ever to evaluate graduates' abilities.