A new study by researchers at Northwestern University has set off alarm bells about the future of academic research, warning that the publication of fraudulent science is growing at a faster rate than that of legitimate research. However, recent research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals that, in recent years, this system—composed of researchers, academic institutions, government agencies, private companies, and dissemination platforms—shows signs of breaking down. The types of fraud detected range from the creation of fictitious research, to plagiarism, to the buying and selling of authorship and citations in papers. These papers often contain falsified data, manipulated or copyright-infringed images, plagiarized content, and even absurd or physically impossible claims. “These networks are essentially criminal organizations, acting together to fake the process of science,” Amaral said in a statement published by Northwestern University.