There is “science,” and then there is “The Science.”
These are two very different things. Science is a method that is used to determine certain kids of truths and facts about how things work; “The Science” is a method of extracting money and power out of the existing economic and power structure to benefit so-called “scientists.”
Organized scientific fraud is growing at an alarming rate, study uncovers | Northwestern University
From fabricated research to paid authorships and citations, organized scientific fraud is on the rise, according to a new Northwestern University study.
By combining large-scale… pic.twitter.com/pzwkS3C39c
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) August 6, 2025
“The Science” is, effectively, organized crime. It bears as much relationship to “science” as a pyramid scheme does to investment. Except that, in the case of “The Science,” the infrastructure that society has created to root it out is entirely ineffective because, as often as not, it is part of the scheme, or at least is dedicated to covering up the crimes.
From fabricated research to paid authorships and citations, organized scientific fraud is on the rise, according to a new Northwestern University study.
By combining large-scale data analysis of scientific literature with case studies, the researchers led a deep investigation into scientific fraud. Although concerns around scientific misconduct typically focus on lone individuals, the Northwestern study instead uncovered sophisticated global networks of individuals and entities, which systematically work together to undermine the integrity of academic publishing.
The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications. The authors argue these findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needs to act before the public loses confidence in the scientific process.
The study, “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient and growing rapidly,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For years, researchers studying scientific productivity have observed that progress in science, as measured by advancements in our understanding of fundamental principles, has largely stagnated. The number of “scientists” has increased exponentially, as has the societal investment in science, yet the advancements have slowed to a trickle. Even major “advancements” such as the discovery of the Higgs Boson are not really achievements of note–the Higgs Boson had been predicted to exist for decades, and at the cost of many billions of dollars, particle physicists merely confirmed what we already expected to exist.
And that was a HUGE achievement compared to most. An entire industry was built at astronomical costs, yet we learned next to nothing. And, rest assured, they are on to the next boondoggle that will employ thousands.
Technology has advanced, of course, but most of that work is driven not by the Academy but by industry. TSMC and NVIDIA are churning out achievements at an astonishing pace, but “scientists” are spending much of their time chasing grants, writing papers nobody reads, and colluding with each other to make fake advancements.
“If we do not create awareness around this problem, worse and worse behavior will become normalized. At some point, it will be too late, and scientific literature will become completely poisoned. Some people worry that talking about this issue is attacking science. But I strongly believe we are defending science from bad actors. We need to be aware of the seriousness of this problem and take measures to address it.”
An expert in complex social systems, Amaral is the Erastus Otis Haven Professor and professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. Reese Richardson, a postdoctoral fellow in Amaral’s laboratory, is the paper’s first author.
Anybody paying attention over the past few years has seen the practical effects at the macro level of this trend. “The Science” tells us all sorts of things that are fundamentally false, such as “stand six feet apart to prevent the spread of COVID,” or “cloth masks are an effective non-pharmaceutical intervention.”
Scientific fraud in pursuit of the amyloid hypothesis in Alzheimer’s https://t.co/cyB7lAStaS
— Dr. Jason Fung (@drjasonfung) June 5, 2024
Last year, we learned that the past 20 years of Alzheimer’s Disease research and billions of dollars of research investment were based on scientific fraud.
Low-quality papers based on public health data are flooding the scientific literature | Miryam Naddaf, Nature
The appearance of thousands of formulaic biomedical studies has been linked to the rise of text-generating AI tools.
Data from five large open-access health databases… pic.twitter.com/WHn57mCKA4
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) July 18, 2025
It is tempting to believe that the problem is individual “scientists” who are unethical, but that is simply a fantasy. The institutional fraud is increasingly organized. Researchers have taken to colluding in order to bolster each other’s careers and grant applications. They “peer review” each other’s papers to boost their credibility and hide conflicts of interest to make their work seem credible.
When people think about scientific fraud, they might remember news reports of retracted papers, falsified data or plagiarism. These reports typically center around the isolated actions of one individual, who takes shortcuts to get ahead in an increasingly competitive industry. But Amaral and his team uncovered a widespread underground network operating within the shadows and outside of the public’s awareness.
“These networks are essentially criminal organizations, acting together to fake the process of science,” Amaral said. “Millions of dollars are involved in these processes.”
And it’s not just money and time wasted that is at stake. Massive, world-changing policy decisions are often based on entirely fraudulent “science.” Delaying Alzheimer’s research will not just cost money, but lives and years of pain for millions of people. COVID fraud led to the transfer of trillions of dollars of wealth and the fundamental restructuring of our society, and destruction of our political and social culture.
And let’s not get started on climate research.
“Science” is not broken, but the fundamental institutions that are supposed to advance and support it are–meaning that most things we call science are anything but. Either the criminal organizations themselves are producing fake science, or real scientists are being misled by those who are committing fraud.
Imagine being an Alzheimer’s researcher who spent 20 years being led down a rathole while watching a friend or relative slowly wither away.
Scientists and universities are no longer unaware of this problem, but worry that combating the problem will undermine the prestige and hence funding of their institutions. They often defend or cover up fake science because they want the money to keep flowing.
Any institution, over time, will become a “self-licking ice cream cone,” meaning that its primary goal is to continue existing and expanding, not achieving the goal it was set up to advance toward.
Imagine working on fusion power at the ITER project and coming to the conclusion that the project is fundamentally flawed.
ITER–the multinational Tokamak fusion research project–was approved in 1985, and began construction in 2007 after years and billions of dollars in planning. Construction began in 2007, and with massive delays, it is projected to begin initial plasma creation in the mid-2030s. Maybe. It is projected to produce fusion power around 2040. And nobody knows if it will work by any practical measure.
Projections indicate that, with all costs factored in, the project will cost $65 billion, and its overruns so far are on the order of those of the California High-Speed Rail Project.
Consider the implications of not moving forward should calculations or materials scientists conclude it cannot work: generations of scientists have built careers around the project, and generations more will be funded by it. Whether it works is, to them, entirely beside the point. It is their livelihood.
Even relatively pure science faces the same issue. The James Webb telescope–a great project–was projected to cost $1 billion when approved. It ultimately cost $10 billion or more and took decades to transition from approval to launch.
Nobody ever expected it to cost $1 billion. The number was always absurd. The whole project–again, I love the Webb’s work–was built on a lie.
Science is built on the search for truth, but just as Harvard’s motto is “Veritas” and its real mission is making money and doing politics, most science today is about funding itself.
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