Taylor & Francis threatens legal action against anonymous group’s "highly defamatory" claims
The group, ScienceGuardians, is an anonymous organization whose website serves as what they call an online "journal club". On September 7, 2025, the group published a string of claims on X about Nick Wise, a sleuth who joined Taylor & Francis in January as a research integrity manager. The ScienceGuardians post characterized the move as Wise "infiltrated" the publisher’s research integrity office.
On September 8, 2025, the group sent a "formal notice" to Taylor & Francis, which they also posted on Substack, to the attention of Laura Wilson, head of research integrity and ethics, and Sabina Alam, director of publishing ethics and integrity. Among its "material concerns", the letter cites "conflicts of interest", referencing Wise’s PubPeer posts, and whether he "disclosed his PubPeer activity" to the publisher. They also cite "collaboration with external actors", referencing an exchange on Bluesky between Wise and Bik. The letter was signed by "Elias Verum, on behalf of ScienceGuardians".
"It is disturbing that ScienceGuardians not only post their vague insinuations on X, but that they also send emails to the employers of ‘sleuths’ in a clear attempt at defamation", Bik told. The account "uses accusatory language such as "malicious activities", "entrapment", "implicated", and "exposing", without actually showing any proof of fraudulent activities.
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