Study Reveals Rising Rate of Fabricated References in Peer-Reviewed Scientific Papers

A new peer-reviewed study published in PNAS found that the rate of fabricated references in physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, and computing papers has significantly increased. The study, which analyzed papers from early 2026, reported that approximately 1 in 435 papers contained unlocatable references, a substantial rise from 1 in 1,600 in 2023.