(6 May 2026) The Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) movement has published its first report, bringing together leading experts from across the research investigative community to document, scrutinise and address a critical issue: the manipulation of global research.
The FoSci Report 2026: Understanding, Detecting, and Documenting Manipulation in the Research Ecosystem, has been launched at this week’s 9th World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI), in Vancouver, Canada.
The report is an account of the threats facing scientific publishing – from individual paper-level fraud to coordinated criminal networks, to systemic structural failures, and risks to government research and research security.
Bringing together contributions from 17 experts spanning academia, publishing, and independent research integrity investigation (or “sleuthing”), the report marks a significant milestone for a movement that was established just two years ago.
Structured across three levels of analysis – micro (individual papers and anomalies), meso (coordinated and organized misconduct), and macro (systemic and structural issues) – the report charts both the maturity and gaps in current research integrity practice.
Topics covered in the report include: tortured phrases, data and image manipulation, authorship fraud, paper mills, review mills, citation cartels, hijacked journals, the exploitation of open science, interference by companies and governments, legal threats against science sleuths, content authenticity and provenance, and the rapidly growing role of artificial intelligence in enabling misconduct.
The report argues that what can appear to be isolated infractions are often signals of something far more systemic – and that the self-correcting nature of science cannot compete with the speed at which trust is being eroded.
Read the FoSci Report 2026: Understanding, Detecting, and Documenting Manipulation in the Research Ecosystem: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.
The announcement in full is here.
