Overseas researchers are co-opting the reputations of Australian universities – and their academics – without their knowledge to find publication in prestigious journals, only for the papers to be retracted due to fraud and other issues.

In one case, a prominent cybersecurity researcher was unaware that within a two-month period his name was listed as a guest editor and on a paper released by one of the world’s largest academic publishers. In others, overseas academics have used loose connections with local institutions to give more credibility to their position.