Springer Nature is under fire after a recently published book on AI ethics was found to contain numerous unreliable or possibly fabricated references. The book, Social, Ethical and Legal Aspects of Generative AI, is promoted as a comprehensive and authoritative examination of ethical issues in artificial intelligence. Yet investigators found citations to journals and articles that appear not to exist.
Reporting by The Times and reviews by academic specialists revealed that in some chapters, more than 70 per cent of the references could not be verified. Examples included entire sets of citations that could not be traced and references to non-existent publications, such as a so-called “Harvard AI Journal”. Professor Guillaume Cabanac, an expert in detecting academic fraud, characterised the problem as serious research misconduct involving the falsification and fabrication of references, warning that such practices erode trust in scholarly research.
A separate review by Dr Nathan Camp identified further errors, including mismatched details, invented sources and references that appeared to splice together elements from different legitimate papers. While he noted that it is challenging to prove that AI generated the citations, their consistent patterns strongly point in that direction.
Springer Nature has confirmed it is investigating the matter. James Finlay, its vice-president for applied sciences books, said the publisher’s research integrity team is treating the issue as a priority, acknowledging that, despite quality controls, some problems can slip through the editorial and peer-review processes.
The incident adds to broader concerns about the impact of AI on academic publishing. Earlier this year, Springer Nature withdrew another technology title after discovering fictitious references, highlighting growing challenges for publishers as AI tools become increasingly capable of producing work that resembles legitimate scholarship
Source:Sri Lankan Guardian
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