In May, 2024 behavioral ecologist and ecotoxicologist Michael Bertram received some disconcerting news: His identity had been used, apparently by another researcher, to produce dozens of fake peer reviews on papers submitted to the journal Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN). Elsevier, the journal’s publisher, had opened an investigation.
Since 22 November, 2024 Elsevier has retracted 22 papers in STOTEN, a number that’s set to grow. The retraction notices, which are nearly identical, all say Elsevier’s Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics team determined that one or more of the reviews for each paper were "fictitious", written under the name of known scientists without their knowledge.
Fake peer reviews have become an increasingly familiar type of academic fraud. Many journals invite authors to submit names of possible reviewers along with their manuscript. Authors can abuse this system by suggesting real scientists with relevant expertise but supplying fake email addresses they have created or have access to.
