Anna Abalkina
Anna Abalkina | |
|---|---|
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Perugia, Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation |
Anna Abalkina is a Russian academic, and is a research fellow at the Free University of Berlin. Abalkina researches scientific corruption and fraud, including paper mills and hijacked journals. She was named by the journal Nature as one of ten people who shaped science in 2024.
Academic career
[edit]Abalkina studied international economics at the Financial University in Moscow and then completed a PhD on Russian banks at the University of Perugia.[1][2] Abalkina worked at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the World Bank and UN Trade and Development before joining the Institute for East European Studies at the Free University of Berlin as a research fellow.[3]
Abalkina researches malpractice in academic publishing.[4][2] Whilst working at the Financial University, Abalkina found two of her papers had been plagiarised by a student at another university. After she complained to the journal involved, the author was allowed to insert citations to Abalkina's work, rather than withdrawing the articles.[2]
Since 2013, Abalkina has worked with the organisation Dissernet, which tracks plagiarism in Russian dissertations and published articles, and has identified thousands of fake degrees across hundreds of institutions.[1][5]
In 2019 Abalkina identified a 'paper mill' called International Publisher LLC which sells authorships in papers, identifying more than 100 suspicious papers in 68 journals run by established publishers such as Elsevier and Wiley.[4][2] More recently Abalkina has investigated hijacked journals, which is a type of impersonation cyberscam involving the setting up a site that mimics that of a genuine academic journal.[2] Abalkina created a hijacked journal checking tool, which is hosted by Retraction Watch.[2]
Abalkina's work has resulted in her being included on a Russian social media watchlist run by Roskomnadzor.[2]
Honours and awards
[edit]In 2023 Abalkina and co-author Dorothy Bishop received commendations from the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, for the article Paper mills: a novel form of publishing malpractice affecting psychology.[6][7]
Abalkina was named by the journal Nature as one of ten people who shaped science in 2024.[2]
Selected works
[edit]
- Dorothy Bishop; Anna Abalkina (6 December 2023). "Paper mills: a novel form of publishing malpractice affecting psychology". Meta-Psychology. 7. doi:10.15626/MP.2022.3422. ISSN 2003-2714. Wikidata Q131532004.
- Anna Abalkina (1 September 2023). "Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: Evidence from a Russia-based paper mill". Learned Publishing. 36 (4). arXiv:2112.13322. doi:10.1002/LEAP.1574. ISSN 0953-1513. Wikidata Q123437838.
- Anna Abalkina; Alexander Libman (24 October 2020). "The real costs of plagiarism: Russian governors, plagiarized PhD theses, and infrastructure in Russian regions". Scientometrics. 125 (3): 2793–2820. doi:10.1007/S11192-020-03716-X. ISSN 0138-9130. Wikidata Q114263591.
- Anna Abalkina (21 June 2021). "Detecting a network of hijacked journals by its archive". Scientometrics. 126 (8): 7123–7148. arXiv:2101.01224. doi:10.1007/S11192-021-04056-0. ISSN 0138-9130. Wikidata Q114263270.
- Abalkina, Anna (4 February 2021). "Guest Post - Unethical Practices in Research and Publishing: Evidence from Russia". The Scholarly Kitchen. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Anna Abalkina". STM Association. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Else, Holly (9 December 2024). "This fearless science sleuth risked her career to expose publication fraud" (PDF). Nature. 636 (8043): 548–549. doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03894-1. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ "Dr. Anna Abalkina from Freie Universität Berlin Named One of 2024's Top Ten Most Significant Scientists by "Nature"". www.fu-berlin.de. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Russian site peddles paper authorship in reputable journals for up to $5000 a pop". www.science.org. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ Meers, Jelter (20 January 2018). "Dissernet: Exposing Fraud and Plagiarism in Russia's Academia". Investigative Journalism Education Consortium. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "Research prize for Anna Abalkina". www.oei.fu-berlin.de. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "SIPS 2023 Awards Announced!". 22 August 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
External links
[edit]- Science sleuth honoured in Nature, interview with Anna Abalkina on Australian radio ABC, Sun 15 December 2024
- Paper mills: challenges, current understanding and unanswered questions Talk by Anna Abalkina for Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford, 25 April 2024, via YouTube
