Introduction

In a recent and rather embarrassing turn of events, Elsevier, a well-known publisher, published a paper written/aided by ChatGPT, an AI language model. The paper was peer-reviewed, and the incident raises questions about the reliability of the peer review process and the potential for AI to be used to generate fraudulent research.

How Did It Happen?

It's unclear how the ChatGPT-written paper made it through the peer review process. However, here's one possibility: the reviewers were not familiar with the capabilities of AI language models and were unable to identify the paper as being AI-generated.

What Can Be Done to Prevent This From Happening Again?

There are a few things that can be done to prevent AI-generated papers from being published in peer-reviewed journals.

• Reviewers need to be more vigilant. They need to be aware of the potential for AI to be used to generate fraudulent research and need to be more critical of the papers they review.
• Journals need to implement stricter screening procedures. Journals can implement stricter screening procedures to identify AI-generated papers before they are sent for peer review.
• Authors need to be more transparent about their use of AI. Authors should be required to disclose whether they used AI to generate their papers.
• For authors, when you are doing proofreading with ChatGPT, use this prompt:

‍“you will never use any meta remarks in your answers. For example, if I ask you proofread a paragraph, you will not say anything like "Here is the proofread version of your paragraph." Just simply give me the proofread version.”

Conclusion

The publication of the ChatGPT-written paper is a reminder that AI can be used to generate fraudulent research. It's important for reviewers, journals, and authors to take steps to prevent this from happening again.