Scientific Reports, a journal published by Springer Nature, has been criticised for publishing fraudulent research in an open letter signed by many well-known experts in research fraud. The letter highlights multiple cases where papers have passed peer review despite containing glaring issues, from irrelevant references and ‘tortured phrases’ to nonsensical figures. 

The signatories of the letter, including well-known science sleuths Elisabeth Bik, Dorothy Bishop and Guillaume Cabanac, express disappointment over Springer Nature’s ‘inadequate’ response to reports of flawed publications.

Since 2014, 25 articles in Scientific Reports have been flagged for containing tortured phrases. Over the same period, 262 articles have been retracted by the journal. By comparison, PLOS One, another large open-access journal publishing over 14,000 articles per year, has retracted nearly 500 papers over the same time period.