Read on Twitter
Woah, I found two other papers, from different institutes, with non-overlapping authors, that appear to have used the same colony formation assays.
(short thread) https://twitter.com/MicrobiomDigest/status/1227818473541160960
(short thread) https://twitter.com/MicrobiomDigest/status/1227818473541160960
Look at these three Figures 2C (even the fig numbering is the same):
Then look at these three Figures 4C:
This might be another example where three different groups of authors have outsourced their experiments to the same lab - or the same paper mill.
The paper titles use the same structure that is used in the large (over 300 cases as of now) presumed paper mill we are working on. But they have different western blots. Here is the background on that paper mill: https://forbetterscience.com/2020/01/24/the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers/
And here is the title structure that is used in many of these cases. Examples:
"microRNA-103 promotes LPS-induced inflammatory injury by targeting c-Myc in HK-2 cells"
or
"miR-451a Inhibits the Growth and Invasion of Osteosarcoma via Targeting TRIM66"
"microRNA-103 promotes LPS-induced inflammatory injury by targeting c-Myc in HK-2 cells"
or
"miR-451a Inhibits the Growth and Invasion of Osteosarcoma via Targeting TRIM66"
Just to make sure: there is nothing wrong with using title templates, which are handy if English is not the authors' first language.
But we noticed that many paper mill suspects appear to follow that structure.
But we noticed that many paper mill suspects appear to follow that structure.
But in this case the title structure led me to these three papers. They do not belong to the mill paper that all share the same western blot backgrounds, but possibly to another mill. So let me know if you happen to see the same colony formation assay photos in other papers!
