This article traces the cause of the problem to 'China' but I think we can offer a more nuanced explanation in the form of misplaced incentives and academic publishers, and specifically, requiring publication in order to qualification for promotion (similarly, most institutions won't sponsor conference participation unless the person is presenting a paper, leading to similar issues in that sphere). The publishers blame 'paper mills' but the problem is that "corruption is creeping into the system" at all levels. I'm not sure whether it's possible to change the incentives, and if not, then it will be necessary for employers to pay for their own research assessment rather than offloading it onto unpaid researchers and editors working for commercial media.
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