通过在线采编系统注册密码识别第三方代写代投机构作者

Identification of Authors Involved in Third-Party Ghost-Submitting Behaviors through Passwords from Online Editorial System

目的:收集在我刊在线采编系统中所有注册作者的登陆密码,分析可疑第三方代写代投作者的密码特征,并总结代写代投作者其余注册信息的特征。方法:纳入2017年9月1日至2023年10月31日期间在我刊投稿系统中注册的所有人员,将其相关注册信息导出至Excel。排除所有编委、审稿专家以及非投稿作者后,人工筛查使用相同密码的作者,将可疑作者和可疑密码归类,并总结归纳可疑作者其余注册信息特征、所有稿件特征和行为特征。结果:分析发现,共有566位作者使用了18组可疑密码,其中使用密码1和密码2的作者较多,分别有239人(42.23%)和143人(25.27%)。这566位作者共来稿822篇,占同期我刊总来稿数的12.92%。进一步分析发现,这些作者的预留电话号码、邮箱、登陆用户名、单位所在地、交流过程以及AMLC系统检测结果均存在明显特征。结论:我们的研究发现,第三方代写代投机构在采编系统注册时常常会使用同一密码组,并且其他注册信息、交流过程和所投稿件均存在明显的特征。我们希望本研究发现的这些规律特征能帮助科学期刊编辑在审稿过程中识别第三方机构代写代投稿件,从而能为净化学术环境添砖加瓦。

Objective:To retrieve the passwords of all authors registered in our online submission system,analyze the characteristics of passwords from suspected third-party contributors,and summarize the characteristics of other information registered by suspected third-party contributors.Methods:Information from all authors registered in our online submission system from Sep Ist,2017 to Oct 31th,2023 were retrieved and exported in excel format.All information of non-submitting authors,editorial board members and reviewers were manually excluded.All authors registered with same passwords were selected and sorted,then authors coincidentally registered with same passwords were manually excluded.Subsequently,the rests were classified as suspected third-party contributors,and characteristics of registered information,manuscripts and behaviors during submission were analyzed.Results:In total,there were 566 authors registered with 18 password sets.Notably,there were 239 authors registered with pass-word set 1(42.23%)and 143 authors registered with password set 2(25.27%).There were 822 papers submitted by these authors,accounting for 12.92%of all papers submitted to our journal in the same period.Furthermore,there were distinctive characteristics in phone number,e-mail address,user name,afiliation,communication during submission and test results from AMLC system.Conclusion:The third-party contributors usually register with same password sets in our online editorial system,and their other registered information,communication during submission and submitted papers are also distinctively characteristic.Hopefully,the characteristics of third-party contributors discovered in our study would provide some help for scientific journal editors during identifying papers from third-party contributors.