Though not a prominent researcher, I have been contacted recently for "co-authoring" a paper in one my fields of research, by a person I did not know. I had no task to perform: no thinking, no publication writing... I only had to accept some hundred dollars. I politely refused, quoting the concept of "scientific method". If this happens to the tiniest...
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/09/12/forged-authorship-chemosphere-meteorology-elsevier/
When you discover you’re an author on a paper you’ve never seen [nor written]
#Science #Disorder