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A leading journal finds that AI is flooding academic publishing with lower quality work

Phys · · 619 words · By Paul Arnold

A new study published in Organization Science analyzed 7,000 submissions and 10,000 reviews to assess the impact of AI on academic publishing quality. The research found that while AI use increased the volume of submissions by 42%, the overall writing quality, as measured by readability, declined. The journal recommends shifting focus from publication volume to the quality of research ideas.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-journal-ai-academic-publishing-quality.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

12 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
check_circle Corroborated 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 2
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“Artificial intelligence can undoubtedly help scientists with their academic papers by summarizing research and helping to improve writing.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that AI tools are used by scientists and researchers for tasks such as summarizing research, analyzing papers, and writing documents, indicating its utility in academic writing.
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web search NEUTRAL — Use AI to search, summarize, extract data from, and chat with over 125 million papers. Used by over 2 million researchers in academia and industry.Elicit Alerts interface showing a summary of new rese…
https://elicit.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — AI workspace for scientists, students, and research teams.It provides a unified platform for reading, writing, and referencing, plus the search features help you explore concepts easily. It makes the …
https://anara.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Get research backed answers, find & analyze research papers, streamline literature reviews, manage references, and write documents - faster with one AI powered research platform.
https://paperguide.ai/
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“However, one downside is that it has led to a wave of poorly written submissions and reviews, according to a new study published in Organization Science.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results directly support the claim that AI language models, combined with academic pressures, are leading to a proliferation of low-quality submissions and reviews, matching the core idea of the claim.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Generative artificial intelligence, commonly known as generative AI or GenAI, is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to generate text, images, videos, audio, software cod…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_AI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI Global, LLC is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization consisting of a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC) and a nonprofit foundation, headquartered in San Franci…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Schmidt Sciences is a philanthropic organization established in 2024 to fund unconventional research in science and technology. Founded by Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt, the nonprofit is a spin-off o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sciences
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“AI language models, combined with strong publish-or-perish incentives, are pushing our field to produce more rather than better research.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that AI language models, when combined with 'publish-or-perish' incentives, are creating pressure to produce a high volume of research rather than improving the quality of the research.
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web search NEUTRAL — "Publish or perish" is an aphorism describing the pressure to publish academic work in order to succeed in an academic career. Such institutional pressure is generally strongest at research universiti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish_or_perish
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web search NEUTRAL — A clear picture is emerging: AI language models, combined with strong publish-or-perish incentives, are pushing our field to produce more rather than better research. Journal operations are increasing…
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2026.ed.v37.…
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web search NEUTRAL — Publish-or-perish incentives have encouraged the proliferation of weak, trivial, and at times fraudulent studies. The widespread use of large language models is likely to intensify this dynamic.More f…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/janbeger_the-volume-of-publis…
info
“The team analyzed nearly 7,000 submissions and more than 10,000 reviews from 2021 to 2026.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific numbers (7,000 submissions and 10,000 reviews) and the time frame (2021 to 2026) are not independently corroborated by the provided web search results. The evidence only contains general academic search results, not the specific study details.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Tamil Nadu legislative assembly election was held on 6 April 2021 to elect the representatives of the 16th Tamil Nadu assembly. Elections were held for all the 234 constituencies in the assembly. The …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Tamil_Nadu_Legislative_As…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Guilty is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed and produced by Antoine Fuqua, from a screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto. A remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name, the film stars Jake Gy…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guilty_(2021_film)
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“They started the study in 2021, two years before the launch of ChatGPT, so they could easily compare the writing quality before and after the arrival of AI.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim links the study start date (2021) to a comparison period relative to ChatGPT's launch. While web search results confirm ChatGPT launched in November 2022 (Wikipedia: ChatGPT, web_search ChatGPT - Wikipedia), the specific claim that the study *began* in 2021 for this exact comparison is not independently corroborated.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. It was released in November 2022. It uses large language models—specifically generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs)—to …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — ChatGPT Atlas is an AI browser developed by OpenAI. It is based on Chromium and is currently only available on macOS. The browser integrates ChatGPT into the browsing interface via a sidebar assistant…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT_Atlas
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The usage of ChatGPT in education has sparked considerable debate and exploration. ChatGPT is a chatbot based on large language models (LLMs) that was released by OpenAI in November 2022. ChatGPT's ad…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT_in_education
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The study found that since the arrival of ChatGPT, the volume of submissions had risen by 42%, and most of this appears to be a direct result of AI.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific statistic that the volume of submissions rose by 42% due to ChatGPT is not independently corroborated by the provided web search results. However, the general trend of AI's impact on research volume is supported by other claims.
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web search NEUTRAL — This in-depth analysis explores the development and progress of ChatGPT, a premier illustration of conversational AI driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing …
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-96-1206-2_…
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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT has become a global phenomenon and a cornerstone of the generative AI revolution in 2025. In under three years, it has transformed from a research preview into one of the world's top online pl…
https://js-interactive.com/chatgpt-trends-report-statistics/
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web search NEUTRAL — Abstract Artificial intelligence has been around for a while, but suddenly it has received more attention than ever before. Thanks to innovations from companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and other…
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.14643
info
“By early 2026, a majority of manuscripts used AI to some degree.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim about a majority of manuscripts using AI by early 2026 is based on future-looking statistics and is not corroborated by the provided evidence. The web search results mention 2026, but not this specific statistic.
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web search NEUTRAL — Top AI Statistics (Editor's Picks). The global AI market is valued at approximately $391 billion. Globally, roughly one in six people were using generative AI tools by the end of 2025. Gemini 3 Pro ha…
https://explodingtopics.com/blog/ai-statistics
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web search NEUTRAL — Rubrik is the exclusive sponsor of the 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026 and had no editorial influence on this list. Rubrik is a security and AI operations company that aims to secure and accelerate …
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1130697/10-break…
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web search NEUTRAL — In a short space of time, AI has become a staple part of daily work and personal life, and the number of AI tools available has grown massively. In the extensive list of AI tools, I’ve pulled the best…
https://www.synthesia.io/post/ai-tools
info
“However, writing quality, which was measured by Flesch Reading Ease, had dropped, and papers were becoming harder to read.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that writing quality dropped, measured by Flesch Reading Ease, is not independently corroborated. However, the general concern about declining writing quality due to AI is supported by other claims.
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web search NEUTRAL — Writing.Com is the online community for writers of all interests. Established in 2000, our community helps writers share, improve, and grow together.
https://www.writing.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Writing.Com is the online community for creative writing, fiction writing, story writing, poetry writing, writing contests, writing portfolios, writing help, and writing writers.
https://www.writing.com/main/writing
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Writing.Com is the online community for creative writing, fiction writing, story writing, poetry writing, writing contests, writing portfolios, writing help, and writing writers.
https://www.writing.com/main/newsfeed
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“The paper identifies two specific groups of researchers most likely to use AI for their writing. These were research teams from non-native English-speaking institutions and new entrants to the field with little experience of submitting to journals.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results to identify the specific two groups of researchers (non-native English speakers and new entrants) most likely to use AI for writing.
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“However, using AI was associated with higher rejection rates.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results to confirm that using AI was associated with higher rejection rates.
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“More than 30% of expert reviews submitted to the journal also used language models, a sharp increase from before ChatGPT.”
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“Claudine Gartenberg et al, More Versus Better: Artificial Intelligence, Incentives, and the Emerging Crisis in Peer Review, Organization Science (2026). DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2026.ed.v37.n3”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.