Scientists and academic publishers have increasingly noted the alarming proliferation of paper mills, recognized as fraudulent entities seeking to manipulate the publication process for financial profit, engage in fraudulent practices such as falsifying or fabricating data, selling co-authorship of fake papers, manipulating peer review, and including inappropriate citations. These actions pose a significant threat to the integrity of the scholarly record, prompting widespread concern among those involved in the academic community.

MDPI has been actively contributing to combat the undermining of the scientific record. Our editors are employing a set of tools to detect potential ethical breaches within a manuscript and to tackle the issue of fake papers.

United2Act’s consensus statement is the outcome of a virtual summit held in May 2023 including research bodies, publishers, researchers/sleuths, universities, and publishing infrastructure from 15 countries and resulted in a Consensus Statement outlining five key areas of action for all stakeholders:

• Education and awareness
• Improve post-publication corrections
• Facilitate and organise research on paper mills
• Enable the development of trust markers
• Facilitate dialogue between stakeholders

We are committed to promoting transparency and integrity in scholarly publishing and are continuing to work closely with the scientific community toward this goal.

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About United2Act

United2Act is a group of international stakeholders committed to addressing the collective challenge of paper mills in scholarly publishing. United2Act is supported by COPE and STM.

About MDPI

A pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. MDPI is leading the transition to open science by making more research free and accessible to everyone. Over 3.3 million researchers have entrusted MDPI with publishing their scientific discoveries. MDPI’s editorial process is bolstered by a network of dedicated reviewers, a team of 6000 diligent, well-trained staff members, and an in-house article submission platform that was designed to ensure efficient processes within its 420 fully open access titles.