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Beware sham scientific societies: the research community must be more vigilant
Sham societies often target early-career researchers, a group that tends to be in need of the benefits that society memberships bring.Credit: Getty
On 25 September, Nature published an exclusive investigation into a network of academic societies that have swelled their membership ranks using suspect practices (see Nature https://doi.org/rrcd; 2026).
Exclusive: Sham scientific societies are misleading star researchers
These ‘sham’ societies have been convincing high-profile scientists to join — even sometimes including people without notifying them — giving the impression that they are robust, active, international bodies.
The person behind these societies defends the organizations, attributing the use of star scientists’ names without their consent and doctored website images to administrative errors and technical glitches. However, Nature’s reporting found that these explanations do not account for the pattern and timing of the discrepancies.
Nature’s investigation revealed a tangle of deceptive practices. Although the organizations might offer some services to their members in the way that other societies do, they have also claimed they have relationships with established academies in Europe and the United States, several of which told Nature that they had no knowledge of the alleged partnerships. A side-by-side comparison of images on the sham societies’ websites with those from unrelated sources showed that photos of conference gatherings and buildings had been digitally altered from the originals.
One such society advertises a virtual PhD programme for US$10,000 and a virtual postdoctoral programme for $2,000 on its website. The investigation also found posts on the Chinese social-media platform WeChat from consultancy businesses offering to help people who want to join these organizations. (It is unclear whether the businesses are affiliated with the societies in question.)
Sham societies join paper mills, predatory journals and fake conferences in promising researchers an easy achievement to add to their CVs — in the form of an honorary accolade, a published paper that has undergone minimal peer review or an invited talk. The rapid ramping up of sophisticated artificial-intelligence tools makes it easy to create convincing-looking e-mail communications and websites.
Education-policy researchers say that the end goal of such societies is the sale of titles and credentials to scientists, particularly in China, where honorifics are extremely important to career advancement. Researchers and universities need to be vigilant about these societies, avoid engaging with them and stop their names being used without consent.
What’s troubling is how many institutions have taken the bait. Nature counted more than 30 press releases from academic institutions celebrating faculty members who had been inducted or received awards. Following our enquiries, some have now acknowledged the error and removed or corrected the press releases. Due diligence could have protected these institutions and their researchers.