AI-generated 'fake references' surge…shocking results from analysis of 2.5 million biomedical papers

A biomedical analysis of 2.5 million PubMed Central papers found 2,810 papers with 4,046 references to sources that do not exist.

The share of papers with fabricated citations rose more than twelvefold from 2023 to 2026, with the surge accelerating after AI tools became widely used.

Researchers warn that fake references can spread into reviews, guidelines, and later studies, undermining trust in medical research and publishing.

The findings are prompting calls for stricter citation verification and stronger editorial checks in research journals.