How a Sharp-Eyed Scientist Became Biology's Image Detective

Abstraction: Microbiologist's visual detection of duplicated images in biomedical papers

Key points:

• Elisabeth Bik screened 20,621 biomedical studies and found inappropriate image duplications in 4% (782 papers); roughly half involved sophisticated manipulations (cloning, rotating, stretching)
• She estimates tens of thousands of published biomedical studies should be retracted; as of 2021 she had flagged 4,900+ articles total, with only ~15% addressed by journals
• The 2016 mBio study with Ferric Fang and Arturo Casadevall confirmed her accuracy at ~90%; she scored in the 99th percentile on a change-detection visual task
• PubPeer and Retraction Watch are key platforms for public flagging; journals can take 30+ months to retract even clear-cut fraud
• Automated image-scanning ML tools are under development (Elsevier/Springer/EMBO working group, O.R.I.-funded research), but human review remains essential for context

Connections: Elisabeth Bik · Pubpeer · Plos One · Scientific Integrity · Image Forensics · Research Misconduct

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/how-a-sharp-eyed-scientist-became-biologys-image-detective