Academic fraud and disinformation trends spark calls for media literacy

Researcher Emilio Delgado has raised alarms regarding increasing fraud in scientific publishing. Speaking at a national conference in Alicante, the University of Granada professor noted that scientific authorship is being sold for as much as 1,500 euros and that citation manipulation is becoming more prevalent. Delgado attributed this rise to evaluation systems that prioritize the quantity of publications and citations, creating incentives for misconduct. He also highlighted the role of predatory publishers that bypass rigorous peer review for profit and warned that artificial intelligence poses new challenges in detecting fake scientific articles.

In a separate effort to combat misinformation, the fact-checking organization Verificat has signed a manifesto calling for strategic public policies regarding media and information literacy (MIL) in Catalonia. The document, presented during UNESCO's World Week of Media and Information Literacy, urges the Generalitat de Catalunya to integrate MIL into the political agenda with dedicated budgets. The manifesto emphasizes the need for institutional support for organizations promoting rigorous fact-checking journalism to counter the mass diffusion of false content across digital platforms and traditional media.