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Ghostwriting as a critical lens: authorship and attribution in professional and academic contexts.

Charles Grimm Follow

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4060-9382

Date of Award

Degree type.

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

Ashley J. Holmes

Second Advisor

Michael Harker

Third Advisor

Elizabeth Lopez

This dissertation exposes the inherent deceit within the practice of ghostwriting, considers ways that business applications of writing de-value the labor of writing, and, finally, argues for a composition pedagogy that moves past the emphasis on single-author documents so that students can critically view corporate authorship as an alternative. This dissertation engages in mixed-methods research that included surveys of blog readers and interviews of professional ghostwriters to include voices too often excluded from discussions about the impacts of professional ghostwriting. After establishing the layers of silence placed around the practice of ghostwriting, I then argue that perpetuating this practice de-values the labor of writing despite the integral role writing plays in creating value in our current world.

After discussing the ethical and professional implications of ghostwriting in corporate settings, this dissertation argues that students in First-Year Composition (FYC) programs occupy a role similar to the professional ghostwriter in terms of limited agency, pay-off, and potential. As with the context of professional writing, this study challenges the status quo of single-authored texts as assessments in FYC and argues for the benefits of students composing in digital genres such as wikis and social media to critique the benefits of single-authored, collaborative, and corporate writing in and out of the classroom.

https://doi.org/10.57709/32639057

Recommended Citation

Grimm, Charles, "Ghostwriting as a Critical Lens: Authorship and Attribution in Professional and Academic Contexts." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/32639057

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Ghostwriting in academic journals: How can we mitigate its impact on research integrity?

Research integrity

Well-intentioned open access journals that engage in best practices have been a boon to the research community. But the flipside is that the burgeoning field of open access journals has given rise to fake journals, also known as predatory, deceptive, fraudulent, clone, or pseudo-journals (Beall, Nature 2012). These journals are ones that do not engage in peer review and have minimal or little copy edits. In other words, they exist primarily to extract publication fees from authors.

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Contract cheating –engaging a third party like an essay mill or even a friend or family member to submit work as one’s own–is an unquestionable form of academic misconduct. We’ve established that engaging in contract cheating hampers learning. To that end, there are now laws and activism against contract cheating in various regions around the world.

In academic research, other terms synonymous with contract cheating are more widely used; these words are ghostwriting or ghost authorship .

Ghostwriting is a term used to describe academic research written by someone whose name is not acknowledged. The third party may be anyone who engages in this behavior, including individuals hired by private companies in the industry that may provide undisclosed influence on research.

Ghostwriting may entail taking credit for an entire article written by a third party, crediting “honorary” authors for work they did not do, or not crediting junior researchers for their participation. When authors are named without having participated in research or writing, they are called “honorary” authors or “guest” authors and this related form of behavior also qualifies as misconduct.

The most egregious forms of ghostwriting are articles completely written by an industry representative about research in which the stated authors have taken no part, or articles written by industry that provide selective research outcomes to promote products of which the researchers and acknowledged authors are unaware.

In the world of medical writing, the misconduct of ghostwriting is particularly pervasive, as pharmaceutical companies often collaborate with researchers to promote products and support regulatory requests; in fact, the term for legitimately doing so is called publication planning and strategy . But when these contributions aren’t acknowledged, research slides into misconduct. Researchers state that “We believe that critics are right to condemn the production of ghostwritten journal articles, a practice we believe to be unethical and dangerous” and while collaboration itself is not the problem, “the problem is the specific ways in which these collaborations are disguised, manipulated, and used as tools for marketing drugs” ( Moffatt & Elliott, 2007 ).

Studies have shown that ghostwriting and guest authorship are prevalent within research. A study published in Nature stated that 10.0% of participating scientists engaged in “inappropriately assigning authorship credit”; mid-career scientists’ numbers are even more troubling, with a 12.3% admission rate ( Martinson, Anderson, and de Vries, 2005 ). A more recent 2011 study found that “the prevalence of articles with honorary and ghost authors across three peer-reviewed journals was 14.3% and 0.9%, respectively” ( Dotson & Slaughter, 2011 ). And a 2002 study of Cochrane reviews revealed that an astounding 39% of articles had “honorary” authorship and 9% had “ghost authors” ( Mowatt, et al., 2002 ).

The above numbers may vary, but establish that ghostwriting is happening due to myriad pressure points.

Ghostwriting can be perceived as a way to increase economic opportunities. For medical writers employed by industry, it is a career opportunity. For academic researchers, collaboration with industry may be correlated to prestige and grant support. And “for industry sponsors, these practices are part of global publication strategies for product promotion,” by developing relationships with academics ( Bosch & Ross, 2012 ).

The nature of research, too, can lead to ambiguity. Collaboration is a core component of good citizenship within academia. Funding, too, is more often than not tied to related industries. But these working relationships can often blur boundaries.

Propagating a perception of collaboration has encouraged the practice of multiple authors on research articles. By adding co-authors to a paper, particularly names of more established academics, researchers provide more esteem to their work and increase their chances of being published in more prestigious journals and gaining a wider audience. In fact, “Part of the problem is that good names give papers credibility. A colleague once told me that in his country it was more important to know the authors than the methods of a research paper, as some professors lent their names to almost anything if they were well paid. I have seen single-authored meta-analyses on drugs presenting sophisticated analyses that went far beyond the capability of the author, without a word about who did the analyses (and presumably even wrote the paper). Similarly, many drug reviews are unlikely to have been written by the authors, as these professors probably have more important things to do than writing book-length drug reviews in sponsored supplements or peripheral journals that few would ever read and that have no impact factor,” according to 2009 research ( Gøtzsche, et al., 2009 ).

Such “honorary” or “guest” authorship has been linked to ghostwriting; academic dishonesty is a slippery slope.

Research supports the slippery slope theory. “It is this culture,” states 2010 research, “that pharmaceutical companies have tapped into, rather than inventing a new type of author. But by flattering academics into being guest authors, they have created, and then filled, a need for ghost authors to actually write the papers. The academics accepting the apparent honor of authorship thus provide cover – as accomplices or as dupes – for manipulative marketing practices” ( Barbour, 2010 ).

Finally, ghostwriting is a growing practice because it is often viewed as a slight, rather than as uncontested research misconduct. (Plagiarism, on the other hand, is an uncontested ethical failing). So in the face of economic and career rewards, the incentives to engage in ghostwriting outweighs the low risk of discipline.

When authors collaborate with industry and do not reveal this collaboration in clear ways, research loses integrity and thus erodes trust.

Transparency is a key component to research integrity. Knowing exactly who is writing the article and making clear any bias or influence is critical to accurate findings and research conclusions. According to medical writer Langdon-Neuner, “Articles ghost-written by medical writers engaged by pharmaceutical companies who have a vested interest in the content have caused concern after scandals revealed misleading content in some articles” ( Langdon-Neuner, 2008 )

Advertisements carry the name of the manufacturer whereas ghost-written articles do not reveal affiliation. Confusing the two results in medical decisions made by doctors and policy makers that affect health.

Scientific communication and scientific objectivity is a clear line that delineates research from marketing. This line must be upheld, according to Barton & Elliott, who state, “One approach to scientific objectivity holds that science is objective because of its procedures. According to this view, the foundation of scientific objectivity rests in the way scientists communicate and contest results. Helen Longino (2001) argues that scientific communities are objective insofar as their communication procedures are open and contestable. But ghostwritten papers conceal the interests of authors and sponsors in a way that makes it difficult to assess and contest the scientific data, which undermines the objectivity of science itself” (Moffatt & Elliott, 2007, p. 27 ).

Bosch and Ross go even further in saying that “ghostwriting and guest authorship are acts of research misconduct and deserve such widespread indignation because they entail maintaining secrecy, falsifying credentials, and fabricating the attribution of writing to another, representing an intentional and significant departure from accepted practices within the research community” ( Bosch & Ross, 2012 ).

When practitioners and policy makers make decisions for others based on research, that research needs to be transparent and accurate. The consequences of ghostwriting are widespread; by undermining the integrity of research, it removes critical data that influences how that data will then be used, whether it be policy decisions or a basis for further research.

First and foremost, raising awareness is the first step in preventing ghostwriting from occurring in research articles. #Pleasedontstealmywork in Denmark, for instance, documents instances of ghostwriting in order to make clear the prevalence of ghostwriting. When unknowing researchers understand that ghostwriting is a form of misconduct, they are dissuaded from engaging in dishonesty. And when those who knowingly engage in ghostwriting are under the spotlight, they are less likely to engage in research misconduct.

Journals can take part by requiring contributorship statements for publication . Additionally, they can ask authors to make clear any written contributions by private industry. It is not the participation with industry that makes ghostwriting unethical but the lack of transparency with partnerships. Acknowledging medical writers can clarify conflicts of interest–and make their contribution legitimate ( Yadav & Rawal, 2018 ).

From the initial steps of awareness and journal participation, institutional involvement helps enforce a culture of academic integrity around research. Encouraging universities to define ghostwriting as research misconduct is a way to impress the importance of authorship. Other institutional-level support involves forming a standing committee or task force to sanction ghostwriting ( Bosch & Ross, 2012 ).

Some suggestions are punitive, and go as far as making it standard practice that ghostwriters and guest authors be named as defendants in litigation against the pharmaceutical industry, per Moffatt and Elliott ( Moffatt & Elliott, 2007, p. 29 ). Certainly, this would be a deterrent. The lack of disciplinary measures to date has contributed to widespread ghostwriting. Plagiarism results in retractions and negative reputation; the same must happen when it comes to ghostwriting.

As with all academic integrity issues, we hope it doesn’t come to punishment and that such breaches are avoided through education. We hope that spotlighting ghostwriting helps spare unknowing participants of misconduct.

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If you have read the likes of Stephen King and Joanne Rowling, then you have had firsthand experience with a professional ghostwriter. As a student, you can also solicit academic ghostwriting services from best educational writing websites like GradeCrest.

But just what is an academic ghostwriting service? Academic ghostwriting services are becoming a preference for many students. Mostly, students double studies and work, which leaves little or no time for them to write high-quality college papers, complete assignments, and attempt homework. But do the professors and instructors care enough to reduce the workload, No! 

So students find someone else, sort of an academic research assistant, who conducts research, gets scholarly sources, writes a decent piece of essay, research paper, and term paper, and consults with them the entire process. So, an academic ghostwriter works with a student, like a tutor-student relationship, to ensure that they get their ideas written on paper.

Can you hire a ghostwriter for a dissertation or thesis, yes you can. However, be ready to spend more time with them to get to the core of the paper written for you.

That said, you must carefully vet the ghostwriter you entrust with one of your essays or college papers.

Is Ghostwriting Plagiarism? Is Academic Ghostwriting Legal?

If you are tight on time and still need to catch up with the class, academic ghostwriting is entirely something you should consider. NB: Ghostwriting is never plagiarism neither are laws that make it illegal. Ghostwriters sell content and give rights to the person buying it. The same applies to academic ghostwriting service no Canadian, American, or UK law make academic ghostwriting illegal.  The mere attacks to academic ghostwriting are from people who do not appreciate the changing times. It is an issue with universities that do not understand the dynamics of how it works. Academic ghostwriting services help students get model papers or sample academic papers that they can use in completing theirs. Students have taken honor codes and cannot cheat by submitting such papers for credit. So, when they receive the papers with the sources, they can understand how to format papers in MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, ASA, or Harvard.

Academic ghostwriters are surrogate mothers that research the essays for students, write the essays, and submit the papers to the clients. As a college ghostwriting service, we encourage the clients to chip in ideas when the papers are yet to be or when they are being written. This way, we have our ghostwriters discuss the way forward with the students and come up with as many points as there is on a subject. Now, the same happens when handling either short deadlines or long-deadline college papers.

Get our ghostwriting service for formatting, editing, styling, proofreading, writing masters and Ph.D. theses and dissertation, writing dissertation chapters, and conducting research. We can also help you create PowerPoint presentations, posters, flyers, personal statements, MBAs and DBA papers, data analysis, and all types of essays.

Why Students Prefer Using Academic Ghost Writing Services

As stated above, students all over the world are entering a competitive space. Everyone wants to get an A-grade research paper, term paper, essays, discussion posts, and you name it. If you have ever read a negative blog on ghost academic writing and wondered if ghostwriting academic papers is illegal, we have something to keep you thinking.

If you were an architect and need to build a house, yet you do not have time, what would you do? You would definitely hire someone on command to draw the best design for you, right? That is the same way academic ghostwriting works. Students who are part-time professionals entrust ghostwriting experts with their academic work.

Here are some of the top reasons why you need our ghostwriting services:

• When writing different types of academic papers assigned in high-school, college, and university.
• If you need essays, admission essays, term papers, reports, lab reports, marketing plans, business plans, and coursework projects done as you do other personal stuff.
• When looking for professional paper assistance to get plagiarism-free and well-researched papers.
• You need a PowerPoint presentation done for you while you finalize preparing for your presentation or dissertation defense.

There are many reasons to get help from professional ghostwriting services. What matters is whether you get a reliable academic ghostwriting service like GradeCrest.

Profile of our Academic Ghost Writers for Hire

Academic ghostwriting services are common among bright students and professionals. Did you know that ghostwriting services can perfectly handle your essays and even book reports and reviews? Here is a bit of what our ghostwriters do:

• Help you generate topic ideas for your academic writing tasks such as essays, research papers, and term papers.
• Assist with drafting the outline and formulating the best structure of a paper.
• Selecting the best sources for your academic papers.
• Writing plagiarism-free papers for you.
• Editing and proofreading the college and university papers for you.
• Delivering your research paper orders on time.

But who are they:

• Holders of Masters and Ph.D. degrees from reputable universities.
• Native English Speaker.
• Understand academic writing processes.
• Privy to the different types of essays, research papers, and college papers.
• Understand how to format academic papers.
• Can write both long-form and short-form College and university papers.
• Has passed our rigorous internal tests and participates in professional writing development courses.
• Can write a high-grade paper with minimal to no mistake.
• Carefully handpicked and trained to become the best academic ghostwriter.

An F sounds like a poor grade to get you some slot in the corporate world. It can even cripple your GPA. When different tutors or professors assign you to work, you cannot land your hand in all of them. Therefore, it would be prudent to reach out to us for the best-ghostwriting services. Better yet, we have the best ghostwriters for academic ghostwriting with a guarantee of distinction-level papers.

How our Professional Academic Ghostwriting Service Works

No academic ghostwriting service has made it easier to order essays online. With our service, you can quickly pay for essays online. Here is the drill:

• Click on any order now button, which will redirect you to our order form.
• Fill as much information as you can about your college or university papers.
• Choose the academic level to help us match you up with the right academic ghostwriter. Graduate ghostwriting experts handle graduate-level papers as well as undergraduate level papers.
• Pay for the ghostwriting services you wish to receive. We have even made it easier as you can get discount codes to your emails and use them when paying. Besides, the calculator enables you to estimate how much money to pay for our academic ghostwriting services.
• We assign your papers to a qualified academic ghostwriter who creates a custom academic paper for you within the deadline.
• You can communicate with your ghostwriter as they work on your ghost story. Note that our ghostwritten essays are of high standards and are always delivered on time. Besides, we do not tolerate plagiarized papers. All our essays are non-plagiarized.
• If you get a paper and feel there is a need for some areas to be tweaked, our free-revisions policy covers you.
• And we have the best satisfaction guarantee in place.

Our papers are written from scratch. You can bet on us for high-quality college papers . Besides, if you are short of time, we can handle even essays due in 3 hours.

What Ghost Writing Services Do We Offer?

Academic ghostwriting has bud out to become a stable industry. Like what the sea anemone is to the clownfish, the academic ghostwriting industry is a mutual support system to the higher education system. In an article written by Julia Molinari  in the Guardian, academic proofreading is a common practice among students, and it is not illegal.

Only when novice writers write your research papers will you have a paper carefully peppered with inaccuracies and full of plagiarism. Otherwise, when you find academic writing as a complicated endeavour and get our academic ghostwriting services, you will be assured of professional handling your academic work.

The main differentiating factor between us and our competitors is that you converse with the client as they handle your work. Besides, we have a progressive delivery arrangement where you get periodic drafts to ensure your expert essay writer is on track.

Our ghostwriting help is affordable and does not cost you an arm and a leg. Moreover, we cover different subjects. Here is a sneak pick of what to expect from us.

Thesis and Dissertation Writing

We have in the past, prioritized on client satisfaction. We cherish graduate and MBA students who find worth in what we do. Our academic ghostwriting service serves as equally the best dissertation ghostwriting service . We have delivered world-class professional academic ghostwriting services to many clients.

A major reason why we remain on top is the competent team of well-educated and dedicated dissertation ghostwriters . Our dissertation writers can customize the dissertations to meet your requirements. 

With the expert dissertation ghostwriters in our tuff, we are always confident of meeting the strict university requirements.

We can help you write dissertation proposals and then proceed to write all the dissertation chapters for you. If you are looking for timely delivered and professionally written dissertations, GradeCrest is your happy haven. 

We also help with SPSS, STATA, and EXCEL in data analysis. We are simply the best dissertation ghostwriting service with experienced professional dissertation ghostwriters. You can always get help with your dissertation.  We are experts in helping with thesis writing.

Capstone Papers Research

In college and university, you will be required to write capstone projects. If you are a nursing student, completing a nursing capstone paper or project is a given. Well, writing a capstone paper, which comes in your last school year, can dampen your mood.

Our academic ghostwriting services give you an easy time with your capstone projects. Our professional capstone research paper writers can write a capstone project for you.

Our premium capstone ghostwriting service presents papers in a well-defined format for academic papers.

Our writers will present you with research from scratch, a good topic idea for your capstone project, and an outline for confirmation by your professor. Once confirmed, our academic ghostwriters put their expertise to work and produce the best papers for you. 

It matters not the level of academic you are, so long as you need someone to write your capstone project, our capstone writing service is assuredly the best.

Term Paper Writing

As your life in college advances, you will notice that you need to write term papers. And if they cannot meet Professor Raymond Hames’  standards of writing a term paper, you will need to hire a ghostwriter to help you with term paper ghostwriting.

Again, our academic ghostwriting service has become the first resort for a student seeking term paper help . Our term paper ghostwriting team can help you choose a good topic for your term paper, plan the paper, and write a high-quality term paper. 

Our expert term paper writers have all it takes to produce quality papers. So, if you are stuck with this type of paper, do not hesitate to get help.

Research Paper Help

Writing research papers is an intensive process. It spans from researching for scholarly sources, generating topic ideas, choosing the best titles, and writing a deeply-researched essay. Given its intense nature, students dread research paper writing, which is why they entrust writing research papers to research paper ghostwriting services.

With our ghostwriting service, you can buy research papers online. When you do so, our research paper experts will do everything from scratch within the specified deadlines. Ours is a leading and smart research paper writing service .

We only have experts in different subject matters and not rookie academic writers. We are waiting to assist you with any type of research paper.

Case Study Writing

Writing a case study is a prerequisite for students undertaking sociology, psychology, nursing, medicine and health, business and management, accounting, finance, and tourism, to mention a few. Case study writing can be a tedious process.

For instance, if asked to write a case study of Google LLC, Amazon, Apple, Keurig, or Carrefour. You have to go through the intensive process of analyzing the company annual and financial statements before coming with a PESTEL, SWOT analysis, Porters five force analysis, and a great case study.

Sometimes, it is a leadership case study, and you are not just good at research. In all these cases, our case study ghostwriting services might be a fortune in waiting for you. Our expert case study writers will analyze the case study for you. Each case study comes with a profound thesis statement that hooks the markers from the beginning to the end.

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Marketing and Business Plans Ghostwriting

Writing either a business plan or a marketing plan is no mean feat. You require to understand the right format of a business plan or a marketing plan to write the best. Sometimes you don’t know how to write a marketing plan to clearly outline a marketing strategy.

If this is the case contracting a marketing plan ghostwriter will be an inevitable step. Our extensive marketing plan writing help service can benefit both students and organizations. The same applies to our business plan writing service.

Maybe you have an idea but do not know how to write an excellent business plan; we can spark your entrepreneurial journey and ambitions by writing the best business plan. Our marketing and business plan ghostwriting service is the gold standard in the industry.

Reasons to Trust GradeCrest Ghostwriting Services

Our ghostwritten papers have found fame among college and university students. Within our team, we have administrators, support, and technical staff who work day and night to ensure you succeed in your education.  Professionally, we are always leading in the academic writing world due to diligence, persistence, and expertise. Here are a few benefits of our low-cost academic ghostwriting services.

• Everything is written from scratch. All the papers processed and bought on our website are written from scratch. With the latest plagiarism-detection tools, we can smell and smoke out plagiarized papers. And once we do, responsible writers are banished from our fraternity. Such level of strictness has made us a topnotch ghostwriting service preferred by students.
• Deadlines are met. Out of 10 papers, 9 are always submitted on time. The 1 is room for error and depends on the cooperation between the client and the writer. We have a last-minute service to cater to writing short notice deadlines. As part of the details you fill, we require the deadline to ensure that the writers deliver the paper early enough for proofreading and editing.
• Round the clock assistance . GradeCrest is open 24/7 and 365 days annually. When you want last-minute editing on the paper , our support can get a writer for the same. Whether it is just a few pages or inquiry of a long paper like a thesis or a dissertation, you can always consult with us for free.
• No complexity scares us off. We have both technical and non-technical writers. Even when your project is extremely challenging, we will get the best writer for it. Our ghostwriting specialists accept any academic challenge. Bring it on!
• Affordable Pricing. Ghostwriting papers at our website is cheap. We consider the fact that as a student you have a tight budget. But with us on your case, the majority of the students agree we have the low-cost academic writing help services.
• Safety and Confidentiality. When you pay for academic ghostwriting services, you are safely secured. We only use trusted merchants to receive payments. We never disclose your data to any third party. See our privacy policy.  Besides, once you order, your paper can never be re-sold or reproduced to another client.

Try the Most Creative Academic Writing Company

Academic and business writing is a preserve of the creatives. Part of what the professors assess is to what extent you can use your critical thinking and creativity. With that in mind, our ghostwriting experts have accomplished the highest level of college and university education.  

They come from top universities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States of America.  For that, we have creative, academic, business, and technical caliber writers.

When you pay for papers from our website, you get content that is great and written from scratch by top ghostwriters for hire. The ghostwriters have amassed experience to write texts that are original and of high quality. Even the most distinguished authors and figures have confessed to being using ghostwriting services.

There are two approaches to our academic ghostwriting services.  First off, an academic ghostwriter will choose a topic in consultation with you and based on the assignment prompt. They will then select the sources to use and send the links or PDF files to you for approval or vetting. Then with your go-ahead, they can write your academic papers to the highest levels.

Secondly, the ghostwriter can write a perfect paper for you and only when you approve of it can it be completed. Either way, it is better to hire a ghostwriter for your academic essays than stare at blank pages or submit nothing at all.

Education is expensive, and after investing in fees, you just cannot let a tough essay come between you and success. It is good to invest either side, and that is why our academic ghostwriting service exists.

Why Students Prefer Hiring Our Services

Academic ghostwriting services are not illegal. Besides, every student wants to submit a paper that guarantees them a high grade. Our custom paper writing service covers your back when you face challenges writing essays. We have expert academic writers who help you produce high-quality papers as well as choose good topics for your papers.

Using our ghostwriting services has many advantages as already outlined. We have been entrusted to accomplish different kinds of academic assignments, and not a single client has ever complained of unsatisfactory services.

So, you can join the bandwagon of students successfully doing their stuff as we take care of their papers or stay lowly and do your papers the best way that has been bringing poor grades. The good thing is that lawyers, politicians, professors, nurses, pilots, and other many professionals have used our services.

You can hire affordable academic ghostwriters from GradeCrest. Rest assured you will get professional help with your essay.

And like a ghost, we only do the writing, and yours is to own it. Even when our essay writing experts handle your papers, your insights are always a gem. So, we encourage all-round communication for the best outcome. Enough with the inferior grades, hire an academic ghostwriter online and get the best.

Ghostwriting has been an ultra-safe and convenient solution to college students and university students who want to hone their writing skills. It is also a good resort for students who fear meeting deadlines. If you procrastinated it this long, our academic ghostwriting services can ‘undo your mistake. Get help now!

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

• Original article
• Open access
• Published: 01 July 2016

A close encounter with ghost-writers: an initial exploration study on background, strategies and attitudes of independent essay providers

• Shiva Sivasubramaniam   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7014-5000 1 ,
• Kalliopi Kostelidou 1 &
• Sharavan Ramachandran 1  

International Journal for Educational Integrity volume  12 , Article number:  1 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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Academic dishonesty presents in different forms, including fabrication of data, falsifying references, multiple submissions, collusion, and sabotage, with two forms haunting academia, namely plagiarism and contract cheating or ghost writing. These latter forms have received considerable attention and have been subjects for research. This interview-based study provides some further insight into the problem of ghost writing through presenting the attitudes, justifications and networking practices of some hired ‘ghost-writers’ from a developing country and discusses the depth of this emerging threat to the academic community.

Initially, through simple internet searches using specific keywords, an array of professional advertisements selling contract writing services were identified. Some of these promotional advertisements were found in Facebook® posts, and/or Twitter® feeds. The second part of this study presents a summary of findings from interviews of a group of ghost-writers including their background, attitude and justifications for setting up this new business. The study identifies several high calibre post-graduates who have come to understand the Western (European/North American/Australian) ways of scientific writing and have produced a network of ‘consultancy’ services. Although the birth of their business was ad-hoc, they have established a good network and are now able to share projects and practices. Many of them offer services to home and foreign students with varied levels of customer focus. Some of them are even using Turnitin © software to identify text matching issues. This study suggests that these paper mills have widely been subscribed to by students. The article finally discusses wider issues arising from these interviews and proposes some ways of tackling this new threat to academia.

Introduction

Academic dishonesty can present in a variety of forms, including data fabrication, falsifying references, multiple submissions, collusion and sabotage. Two common forms of academic dishonesty which haunt academia are plagiarism and ghost writing or contract cheating. The term ‘contract cheating’ was coined by Clarke and Lancaster, when they used IT–based tools to track bids by students trying to outsource computer work on the internet (Clarke and Lancaster 2006 ). In contrast ‘ghost writing’, has several distinct meanings, depending on the level of involvement of the ghost-writer (POGO 2011 ; Bosch and Ross 2012 ). Some examples, such as autobiographies that are mostly written collaboratively by a named author and ghost-writer, are considered ethically acceptable providing the use of the ghost--writer is properly acknowledged. In contrast, ‘contract cheating’ in which the student/academic is using/paying ghost-writers to complete parts of or entire projects without any inputs of their own, or proper acknowledgement is defined as academic dishonesty. Dedicated businesses such as essay mills/paper mills or writing services, as they are often presented, are being set up to serve these customers.

Since many Western (see methodology for definition) universities have incorporated text-matching software checks as a part of the submission process, plagiarism has been somewhat deterred, if not always detected (Sivasubramaniam 2013 ). However, there is less focus on addressing the issue of ghost writing or buying essays from paper mills (Molinari 2014 ). As Rothschild ( 2011 ) argued, although ghost writing is technically plagiarism under strict definition, many institutions fail to address it as a problem. Based on personal discussions with some 30 academics in the Bioscience field, approximately 60 % believe that a professionally ghost written article can easily be identified either by text matching detection software, by its style or use of citation. They also think that essays from most paper mills are too expensive for undergraduates to buy, since they are only going to contribute a percentage to their final degree. The former belief is based on assumption that ghost-writers do not spend much time researching the subject and therefore may use internet-based articles, or may sell basically the same essay, or parts of it, more than once. However in reality, it is impossible to detect an article carefully ghost written by an expert just by using text matching software. The second assumption is based on the idea that ghost-writers are professional experts who would charge high fees that are unaffordable by most students. However, it is questionable whether all ghost-writers are professionals.

Due to internationalisation of education, availability of web resources coupled with the spread/penetration of social media and their broad use by the young generation have together invalidated these assumptions.

So what is the connection between internationalisation, social media and ghost writing? Many students with postgraduate qualifications from Western Universities are returning to their native countries to face a grim future as regards employment. Having studied internationalised curricula and established global links via social media, some of these students can and do start new ghost writing services. These services are easily accessible, economical, and above all, provide realistic essays that resemble an original student essay which may be precise, but include common student mistakes.

This article first captures the extent of internet presence of ghost writing advertisements and then investigates the attitudes and justifications of a group of hired ‘ghost-writers’ from a developing country, as well as their working and networking practices, to examine the depth of this emerging treat to the academic community.

Methodology

Terms used in this work.

For the purposes of this work, terms used are defined as follows: ‘ghost-writer’ the person who authors essays, books, articles, theses which are credited to another person. For the present work, ‘ghost writing’ is used to describe the act of ghost writing, namely hiring a ghost-writer to author an academic assignment. Synonymous terms used in this paper are: contract-cheating, marketing of writing services, paper mills and essay mills. Although the actual definition of these terms may vary, the resulting phenomenon is the same, i.e. provision of an authored work, for a fee. ‘Western’ is used in the text to refer to Anglophone universities from Europe (any country), Northern America (USA and Canada), or Australia/New Zealand. ‘Commercial Essay Providers’ and ‘Amateur Writers’ are used according to their respective establishments. The former is used to depict a network of well-established writers;the latter to describe non-professional independent writers.

Concept of this work – online search

The idea of carrying out this exploratory study was initiated in 2013 after reading a Facebook © post (advertisement) about ‘high quality help for writing assignments’. Following this, a Google® (UK-Version 49.0.2623.112 m) search was immediately carried out using words linked to the term ‘ghost-writers’ such as ‘ghost writing’; ‘how to ghost write’; ‘detecting ghost writing’, to capture the extent of popularity/presence of these words within the online community. A similar search was performed in April 2016 using other popular terms such as ‘contract cheating’ and ‘professional writing service’. In 2013, the authors looked into social media such as Facebook © , Twitter®, and What’s App® to identify 25 posts/advertisements for ‘academic writing services’. These writers were randomly selected and contacted through phone calls, when authors explained the purpose of the study. Out of the 25, only ten agreed to participate so they were sent an invitation, with more details. All responders were given details of the purpose of this study, its mode of investigation and ethical aspects involved, including maintaining confidentiality. The study included interviews with the ten ghost-writers/organisations. Representing different subject areas but mainly Biosciences, they were all educated in Western countries and had since returned to their country of origin. Because these interviews were conducted in a different country from that of the author’s institution, ethical issues were covered by conducting them under UNESCO’s ‘Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ as described within the country in which these interviews were carried out. For reasons of confidentiality, this file cannot be presented, as it would expose the country where the interviewed ghost-writers were based. As almost all of the interviewees considered their work as a ‘professional writing service’ or ‘project’, the term ‘ghost writing’ was avoided in interviews. Interviews were held face-to-face with a duration of approximately fifteen minutes or by email. Comments and answers by the interviewees were recorded. These notes were subsequently re-read and key points selected to be reproduced in this text and commented upon. All interviews took place between March and to December 2013.

The purpose of these interviews was to assess (a) the individual background/circumstances for starting or joining this service (b) its popularity (c) its reliability/affordability and (d) whether they considered their service as academic dishonesty. Some examples of questions, taken from each category are given in the Appendix . While these questions were posed to the interviewees, specific answers were not always received and data presented only refer to the answers received.

Voluntary contributions of few ghost written articles were also collected to check their authenticity using the text matching software Turnitin® - Moodle Direct Version 2.2.1.

Online searches

General online searches were carried out to capture the numbers of hits on ghost writing in Google® to obtain an idea of the extent and popularity of this phenomenon. Searches were carried out in 2013 when this work started and repeated in 2016. Initially only the term ghost writing was used as a search keyword, while in the most recent search (2016) we also included ‘contract cheating’. The terms used are shown in Table  1 . As search keywords, phrases containing either neutral or positive connotations were included e.g. ‘how to ghost write’, ‘definition of contract cheating’, or negative ones such as ‘problem of ghost writing’, ‘detecting ghost writing’, ‘contract cheating in Higher Education’. The overall search data is summarised in Table  1 .

As can be seen in Table  1 , Google® searches revealed that ghost writing is extensively publicised online under different terms, for instance ghost writing, writing services etc. Interestingly in 2013 when this study began and with the use of the term ‘ghost writing’, phrases with ‘encouraging’ connotations, such as ‘how to ghost write’ or ‘ghost writing’ achieved a high number of hits, while corresponding ones with deterring connotations, as ‘detecting ghost writing’ or ‘problem with ghost writing’ had fewer hits. The most recent search in April 2016, however, revealed a few interesting points. First, the phrase ‘problem of ghost writing’ has increased its number of hits by 458 % (Table  1 , row 2). Also the number of hits for ‘ghost writing’ has risen by an impressive 1499 % (Table  1 , row 1). This trend not only reflects the increasing penetration and spreading of ghost writing but also increased awareness of this service. Interestingly, all the other entries, such as definition of ghost writing’, ‘how to ghost write’ ‘ghost writing in higher education’ and also ‘detecting ghost writing’ have been markedly reduced in number of hits [−21 % for ‘how to detect ghost writing’;−92 % for ‘how to ghost write’]. We would like to believe that these observations could be due to a universal tendency to use ‘contract cheating’ instead of ‘ghost-writer’.

A Google Scholar® search using the entire phrase ‘contract cheating’ which was performed on 15 April 2016 and excluded patents and citations, retrieved 197 articles. A large proportion of these were by Clarke and Lancaster. This was expected as these authors have presented pioneer work in this subject since 2006 and have since published several manuscripts (Clarke and Lancaster 2007 , 2009 , 2012 ). Simply changing the search term into ‘ghost writing’, but maintaining the exact search criteria retrieved 160 entries, mostly linked with ghost writing in the medical sector and industry-sponsored ghost writing on clinical trials.

Social media searches

Social media searches have revealed several small to medium size advertisements, blogs and chatting strings concerning these ‘writing services’. They were embedded as tweets, or Facebook® entries, which are linked to a home page. Some example screen shots are given in Fig.  1 .

Example advertisements from common social media websites

These advertisements are taken as screen-shots from social media and anonymised. Five of the anonymised advertisements are from ghost-writers 3, 4 and 5, 7 and 8, who were later interviewed.

Almost all of the examples in Fig.  1 are openly offering ‘writing help’ and appear to be addressing university students, both undergraduate and post-graduate. At least one writer has managed to post his advertisement on the common student Facebook® pages of a university. It is also interesting to note some are assuring, or claiming, that essays written by them would have less than 6 % Turnitin® similarity matches (white arrow in Fig.  1 , top left advertisement). This shows that these advertisers are fully aware of the use of text matching software in higher education (see section  Qualitative data obtained from Interviews ). Some offer discounts of up to 15 %, giving gift coupon codes (white arrow-head in Fig.  1 , bottom right advertisement). Others offer help with thesis write ups, even at PhD level.

Qualitative data obtained from Interviews

A total of twenty five ghost-writers were approached and ten (40 %) consented to be interviewed following a confidentiality agreement that their personal identification, location, age and sex not be disclosed. Their educational profiles are shown in Table  2 . Their qualifications are significant, with 90 % having a post-graduate Master’s degree and onea doctorate from Western Universities.

Reasons for ghost writing

Most of these services were started by students who returned to their home country after finishing post-graduate studies abroad. As a result of lack of employment in their field in their own country, some began as solos; others formed a consortium of friends from different fields of study. At least one interviewee claimed that s/he never intended to start this as a business model but continued after realising his/her first two assignments were highly successful. All of those interviewed felt that there was a high demand for ‘writers’. Commercial Essay Provider 1 held a doctorate in bioinformatics and had worked as a lecturer for a short period. During this time, s/he developed contacts with student communities. As for the incentive or reasons for starting this, s/he replied:

‘It was my own effort to start this service to our students studying overseas. I had utilized my acquired analytical and vocabulary skills to address the needs of our students.’

Similar answers were obtained from Amateur Writers 7 and 8.

Amateur Writer 4 stated:

‘One of my friends gives me projects to complete but I am planning to advertise through social networking sites.’

Although it appears these ‘writers’ started ad-hoc (mainly Commercial Essay Provider 1, 2, 9, and 10) they established a good network and were able to share projects and practices. Half of those interviewed advertise only in the social media as posts/tweets, not as advertisements. In contrast, others feel that advertising does not have an impact on their business and it is a waste of money.

Commercial Essay Provider 3 said:

‘Advertising through main internet servers does not have any impact in our promotion; also Google © have banned promotions for such report writing services.’

In their opinion (Commercial Provider 3), media can be used as a bridge for creating awareness and can also provide an opportunity to monitor market status. Eighty percent of the ghost-writers interviewed claimed they never used Google® for advertising. It should be noted that the initial Google® searches did reveal several ghost writing advertisements, many of which looked as if they came from professional Western organisations. There were also claims in Google® blogs by reformed ghost-writers that many Western paper mills outsourced their work to developing countries (Tamlyn, 2009 ). However none of the ghost-writers interviewed in this investigation seem to acquire ‘projects’ via this route. Their main forms of advertising are either through social media or personal contacts/networking. Considering claims from Tamlyn’s ( 2009 ) and other similar blogs ( Sydney media service ; Raven’s Blog 2013 ) and comparing responses from this study, it is clear that there might be three groups of online based ghost writing services: (a) established Western country-based providers, (b) Western country-based providers who outsource their contracts and (c) those based and run by former students of Western education who are now based in their native, non-Western countries. From the replies received, participants of this study fall into the third group. As stated above, their personalised approach via Facebook © or through contacts might have improved their business. When interviewed many of them said that their ‘service’ is valued by students.

Amateur Writer 4 who started his service recently, stated:

‘I mainly get projects through my references and contacts. Perhaps, my outstanding performances in various projects speak a lot, which I feel (is) better than commercial advertising’

However, Writer 4 did not deny that social media played a part in their ‘popularity’. In fact, everyone agreed that the probability of students going to them via referrals and contacts by word of mouth/social media was higher than through advertising. The interviews also revealed that these writers are highly successful. One consortium of writers proudly claimed (Commercial Essay Provider 5):

‘The frequency of our writing is constant and we get projects more frequently by any other means; so, our work and our service will fetch us further projects.’

Another writer (Amateur Writer 6) said:

‘It depends upon the needs of the students and university. As I am handling the services to all degree students, irrespective of their level of study, it will be busy all year around. For international dissertation services, it will be very busy during the months of June and January.’

Due to this high demand, this writer is now recruiting and training MSc/PhD holders from his own country. Seven writers admitted they have constant demand from both overseas and home students, the former being defined as those studying in overseas countries. As for expertise in a given subject, they share projects by networking, to ensure the is handled by an expert in subject’s essay. For example, if a bioscience project is acquired by a provider with social science expertise, they would refer this on to an individual with bioscience specialism and vice versa.

Reliability

With respect to the reliability of their service, all interviewees had a clear understanding of academic writing and plagiarism avoidance. In fact some of them even use text matching detection software to reduce the percentage matches as they perfect their essays. An example email from a senior writer to their apprentice (Commercial Provider 3), highlighting the text matching issue with instructions to rephrase the essay and screen shots of a Turnitin © report, is given in Fig.  2 .

Example communication between ghost-writers regarding a Turnitin© report

An example email correspondence between writers within Commercial Essay Provider 3. Personal identifiers such as names, email addresses are removed as requested by the interviewee.

After showing this example, the provider (Commercial Essay Provider 3) quoted:

‘We train them (the apprentice) to meet the international standards and requirements. By doing this, we can deliver plagiarism-free services to our international clients and customers.’

The same provider admitted that they clearly advise students how to address academic misconduct investigations. They are clever enough to use the student’s (customer) name and their respective university registration numbers for Turnitin © checks, so if detected, the student can claim they had checked the assignment for accuracy before submission.

Considering the seriousness of the claim that some ghost-writers are using Turnitin® to reduce the percentage of text matches, the authors requested some of their (ghost-writers’) past ‘projects’ to validate this claim. All but one, including those who claimed to be using Turnitin®, refused to provide any essays. The single ghost-writer who agreed was Commercial Essay Provider number 2, who provided four pieces of his/her work, two each for in-country customers and for students in Western universities. These four essays were checked for authenticity using Turnitin® (Moodle Direct version 2.2.1) and the percentage matches are highlighted in Fig.  3 . The right hand panels, which have a high similarity index with other published sources, were apparently written for in-country customers. In contrast, the left hand panels with low similarity index were produced for students studying in Western countries.

Percentages matches of example articles supplied by the ghost-writers

Screen shots of Turnitin® reports on articles that are claimed to be written for international (panels A and C) and in-country students (panels B and D) are given on the left and right respectively. The percentage matches are 5 and 8 % for panels A and C respectively and 75 and 54 % for panels B and D respectively. Percentages are circled on the top right part of each panel.

It is interesting to note that within the country where this study was conducted, the number of Universities/Higher education institutions which actually make use of any form of text matching services or programmes to check for academic dishonesty is below 1 % (the data was arbitrarily collected from 100 university websites in that country). A potentially low level of detection may have been realised by these writers, who may be offering widely copied material to in-country students. Although the sample size is too limited to give a meaningful conclusion, this data points to a customer-focussed service being offered by these ghost-writers. They may be trying to offer customised essays to students in Western countries where academic honesty is properly checked, whilst for their in-country customers producing essays that just address learning outcomes by copying, or ‘ patch-working ’. Patch working is mixing and matching sections of other essays into a new one, rather than carefully reading and then paraphrasing content of the sources to create an original piece of work. It is interesting to note, that the author (Commercial Essay Provider 2) who supplied these essays, when confronted with this evidence denied the accusation that ghost-writers may be offering a two-tier customer service and claimed it was merely coincidental. Since this investigation only focussed on ghost-writing practices, their popularity and justifications, investigating this suspected two-tier service which is based on minimal evidence is beyond the scope of this study.

When prompted with the question about the morality of performing this service, the writers’ argument was that the process of ‘writing’ usually involves the customer (student). They maintained their service is merely carried out in the form of collaboration with the customer, with whom they have a constant dialogue, making the student read their drafts and comments so that understand the essay and fulfil its learning outcomes. In other words they are claiming their role is as ‘editors’ rather than ‘writers’. The following excerpt given by one of the ghost writing consortia (Commercial Essay Provider 5) summarises the attitude of these writers and clearly shows they know students’ weaknesses:

‘Although the students from this (anonymised) country are highly focussed on knowledge, they lag far behind when it comes to execution. This will mask their career growth. The main reason is that, they are not taught the importance of writing at preliminary levels. They are not aware of plagiarism. This is mainly due to the design of our (anonymised) educational system. Consequently, their research is not recognised in the international platform. We (the writers) are simply helping them to get recognised.’

Similar attitudes were observed in the answers of Commercial Providers 9 and 10. The writers understood the differences in expectations between Western and non-Western assessments and use these differences to enhance their business. They are committed to their customers, promise to write better essays, and avoid plagiarism. One writer (Commercial Essay Provider 2) even accused the university system and its assessment practices by quoting:

‘The lack of support from the university tutors with their (students) course work is the main reason for students to seek the assistance from us.’

Affordability

The authors of this manuscript have found that these writing services are substantially cheaper than paper mills located in Europe, US or Australia, especially for an under/post-graduate who could afford to pay international tuition fees of the UK or USA. The charging practices differ from writer to writer. One (Commercial Essay Provider 3) claimed s/he charged the equivalent of 3 to 5 UK pence per word with a minimum charge of £100. This is important evidence that contradicts the common academic belief that ‘ students cannot afford to buy an essay from an essay-mill ’. The charges of the interviewed ghost-writers depend on the complexity of the project, from £150 for an undergraduate-level assignment to £1000 for a PhD thesis. Although some claimed they even wrote PhD theses, the authors were unable to gather any evidence for this.

Summary of findings and concluding remarks

Unlike plagiarism, there are no statistical data showing the extent of ghost writing amongst academics and students. This is justified by the difficulty in properly detecting these practices and possibly a general academic belief that ghost writing is not prevalent amongst university students. There is considerable published work on the subject of ghost writing/contract cheating (Clarke and Lancaster 2006 , 2012 ) but our work first aimed to explore the online ‘presence’ of ghost-writers and secondly to capture their styles and attitudes towards their business, as well as shedding some light on their operative ways and networking practices.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work aiming to present collective opinions of a group of ghost-writers in an academic journal rather than a newspaper or blog. In this transformed world of communication, social networking plays a major part in discussing course-related matters amongst students of higher education (Roblyer et al. 2010 ; Connell 2009 ). Essay mills businesses have noticed the potential of these websites as an advertising platform (Todi 2008 ). The phenomenon of students using social networking sites to obtain educational support has already been described (Peluchette and Karl 2008 ; Roblyer et al. 2010 ), and the ghost-writers capitalize on this. They not only specifically yet discretely target large customer groups, but also twist its use to avoid creating a media outcry. Therefore, they endorse the strategy of posting for their ‘availability’ as a simple entry on the web, rather than tagging it as a proper advertisement. From our study, approximately 80 % realised that their services may not be legal and could be blocked by the service providers.

Unemployment, particularly for specialised graduates seems to serve as the incentive for these people to starting such ventures, clearly indicating that a coveted international education may not currently be suitable for their country of origin at least for the present time. As Teichler ( 2004 ) stated, internationalisation of education without addressing core competency requirements of a global market results in unemployment. The fact that these ghost-writers are relatively recent graduates (80 % of them graduated within the last 5 years) clearly proves Teichler’s point.

Another consequence of recent graduation is that these contract essay providers are accustomed to marking criteria, learning objectives and outcomes, and the overall styles required for assignments. In terms of originality, there are signs of a ‘two-tier’ service. One service is tailored to students in Western universities and includes the use of Turnitin © or similar programmes to detect/correct potential text matching issues. The second service is designed for in-country students and lacks any provision for plagiarism checks, as home universities lag behind in use of text matching software.

Regarding the question of ethics in academic writing, the writers’ arguments were somewhat varied. By showing evidence, some (at least 2) tried to prove customer involvement throughout the project and therefore argued it is not unethical or immoral. The rest justified their service as similar to English Language Editing (ELE) services offered by many journals. One of the ghost-writers (Amateur Writer 6) even pointed out that it has been a common practice by Western academics to hire grant writers, and questioned how their service is dissimilar to this. Quoting Fugh Berman’s ( 2005 ) manuscript about pharmaceutical industries using ghost written articles supporting the efficacy of new drug (before its release onto the market, (Commercial Provider 5) defended argument that ghost writing is a common and acceptable practice. They also questioned the authors ‘ why you (the authors) are only keen to investigate these practices in my country, instead of investigating the corporate ghost-writers of the West? ’

These findings may come as no surprise, but indicate that these interviewees have a clear understanding of their work. They know how to justify their existence as well as sustain and grow their business. As prices become affordable and business is growing, this new generation of ghost-writers is going to be a major challenge for the internationalised higher education system. Therefore it is necessary for institutions to focus and redesign their assessment strategies to remove the chances of ghost writing. A holistic approach, where the strategy of assessment by means of a written assignment as a ‘measure of learning’ is shifted to an approach that evaluate the ‘learning process’ through constant student engagement and input. Different levels of organisation are required from all involved stakeholders, including the students and the Government (Clarke and Lancaster 2007 , 2009 ). Academic tutors need to tailor their assessment methods so that the process, as well as the outcome are assessed. It is also possible to have a test linked to an assignment, for example testing an element of the product, or to introduce team work activities. The latter was successfully introduced by the first author in his own institution. Administrative and IT staff can also be involved to perform regular checks on student fora, University websites and discussion pages.

University management needs to put in place a clear code of conduct and policies to deal with all the aspects of ghost writing, from detection to penalties to the involved student. Policy making can also be requested at Government level, which could result in cancelling the VISA of an overseas student who is proven culpable.

Obviously, dealing with contract cheating is not easy, especially in today’s large departments and classes, but with the introduction of an array of measures and fostering of an altered perspective by students, ghost writing could be, at least to some extent, deterred.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Christopher Terrell-Nield, Nottingham Trent University for his editorial help and constructive criticisms throughout this study. The authors also wish to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on this manuscript.

The study was internally funded by the Nottingham Trent University.

Disclaimer statement

A part of this study was presented in the ‘Plagiarism across Europe and beyond 2015’ conference at Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic June 10th-12th 2015. Therefore some findings were published as a proceeding manuscript from this conference.

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Shiva Sivasubramaniam, Kalliopi Kostelidou & Sharavan Ramachandran

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Correspondence to Shiva Sivasubramaniam .

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Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this manuscript. SDS designed the research plan, organised the study and assisted in the analysis. SR carried out the survey and interviews; he also analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. KK has carried out the online based searches, addressed the issues pointed out by the reviewers and made the final draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Authors’ information

Shiva Sivasubramaniam (SDS) is principal lecturer and Subject lead for Pharmacology. He has been an active researcher in developing novel approaches in teaching biomedical sciences. His pedagogic research interests include (a) internationalisation; (b) Student centred teaching, (c) peer-assisted learning and (b) plagiarism deterrence. Working closely with the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and Plagiarism Advisory Services (PAS), he has addressed student education by enhancing academic writing and graduate attributes. This has resulted in several publications in HEA and PAS conferences. He has also been involved in developing several post-graduate courses to suit the needs of international students without affecting the experience of home/EU students. In addition he has developed innovative teaching techniques to educate under- and post-graduate students and plagiarism deterrence.

Kalliopi Kostelidou (KK) is a lecturer/sabbatical assistant for the corresponding author.

Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Life and Health Sciences, School of Sciences. Her research interests include microbiology and pedagogic development. She is currently working to develop distance learning modules at post-graduate level. She is also involved in corresponding author’s current research to develop methodologies to enhance student involvement.

Sharavan Ramachandran (SR) holds an MSc –Research degree in Bimolecular sciences from the Nottingham Trent University. He worked as a research assistant to SDS during this study. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree in molecular bioscience.

Appendix – some example questions asked during the interview

A. The Background (reasons for starting/joining)

What was the main reason for starting this service?

Were you confident that you had the experience and/or expertise to start this project?

When you started this project how many others were involved?

B. Popularity and accessibility

How many projects per month do you usually undertake?

How do you advertise? (Whether you advertise? or do students contact you?)

How do you network? Do you share expertise? If so, how do you allocate/share projects? Are staff well trained to meet the International Standards?

C. Reliability and affordability

What is your price range? And why do you think it is appropriate?

Who decides on price? You or the customer?

Do you think your price range is affordable by home/international students?

D. Views on academic dishonesty and plagiarism

Do you know about academic dishonesty? What is your view regarding plagiarism?

Do you think that your services contravene the code of practice in academic writing? If not, why?

Do you take steps to avoid plagiarism in your projects? If so, how?

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Sivasubramaniam, S., Kostelidou, K. & Ramachandran, S. A close encounter with ghost-writers: an initial exploration study on background, strategies and attitudes of independent essay providers. Int J Educ Integr 12 , 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-016-0007-9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-016-0007-9

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Ghostwriting is a serious problem of research integrity; however, its true impact remains unclear, and little concrete advice is available on how to avoid it. Ongoing discussions and engagement are needed by all authors and contributors to research publications. Efforts made by professional groups to ensure authorship transparency with an aim of ending ghost authorship and ghostwriting are presented. Attention to publication planning and execution is necessary to ensure that ghostwriting is eliminated, and research integrity is protected, especially in the context of large studies sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

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Ghostwriting

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DeTora, L. (2022). Understanding Ghostwriting and Ghost Authorship As Problems of Research Integrity. In: Faintuch, J., Faintuch, S. (eds) Integrity of Scientific Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99680-2_43

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Journal of Organizational Change Management

ISSN : 0953-4814

Article publication date: 13 September 2021

Issue publication date: 24 January 2022

The aim of this paper is to investigate the journey of academic professors who have engaged in ghostwriting.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts qualitative exploratory methods to investigate the ghostwriters' journey into academic ghostwriting. To achieve the goal, the authors interviewed academic ghostwriters, who were working for a diploma mill company, specifically focused on PhD thesis writing in the NIS setting.

This study revealed several interesting insights from ghostwriter perspective such as the origins and motivation of ghostwriters, ghostwriters life, ghostwriters' careers and impediments faced by them.

Originality/value

Given the dispersed and sensitive nature of the topic, this is one of the few studies to investigate ghostwriting and offer implications.

• Ghostwriting
• Ghostwriters
• Academic fraud
• Academic misconduct
• Academic dishonesty

Acknowledgements

The authors like to thank the Editor in Chief, and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. The authors also like to thank the EMIB (Emerging Markets International Business Group) member Dr. Anne Marie Zwerg from Universidad de la Sabana, Columbia for connecting us to get into the project of Academic Ghostwriting. Finally, the authors wish to personally thank the members of the “Reviewer 2 Must be Stopped” Facebook group, who have offered valuable suggestions and comments in finishing up this paper.

Svirina, A. and Anand, A. (2022), "Dubious or decisive? Digging deeper into the unchartered path of academic ghostwriting", Journal of Organizational Change Management , Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 38-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-12-2020-0398

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Your Ultimate Guide to Academic Ghostwriting

Two weeks until finals and Cassy is stressed out. Three exams and two papers are looming on the horizon. She remembers all too vividly how she spent hours crafting her term paper last semester, only to almost fail the class. Now she has not one but two papers to write, no idea how to go about it, and not enough time.

Searching online for term paper help, she comes across a ghostwriting ad . It promises term papers that are guaranteed to pass the course. This could be the answer to all her problems, but Cassy is worried. She has never cheated on a paper before and her professors were clear about their zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism and cheating .

It is difficult to estimate how many students use some form of academic ghostwriting for their assignments. Some agencies claim they have served thousands upon thousands of students. But what constitutes academic ghostwriting? Is ghostwriting in the same league as plagiarism? And what is the role of artificial intelligence in newer ghostwriting software?  

What is Ghostwriting? Different Ghostwriting Options – Agencies, Essay Mills, AI Why Do Students Use Ghostwriters? How Do Universities Safeguard Academic Integrity? Why Is Academic Ghostwriting Banned? What Are Some Legal Alternatives to Hiring a Ghostwriter?

What is Ghostwriting?

The most basic definition for a ghostwriter is someone who writes for someone else and who is not credited as the author. Often they create the whole material, a book, a paper, or an article, on their own. Sometimes the ghostwriter only writes certain parts of the material or reworks an author’s first draft.

As the name implies, ghostwriters work in the shadows. Typically, readers don’t know that the book they hold in their hands has been written by a ghostwriter. 

Not all ghostwriting is problematic. Celebrities commonly use ghostwriters in their autobiographies, musicians have songs written for them. Politicians have ghostwriters to write their speeches or other publications in their name, companies hire writers to create blog posts or articles and whitepapers. In these cases, ghostwriting is perfectly legal and an accepted business practice. 

Different Ghostwriting Options – Agencies, Essay Mills, AI

However, ghostwriting is not confined to celebrity memoirs, songs, and speeches. Students unwilling to write their own papers can turn to academic ghostwriting services such as dissertation writing agencies.

The current market is overflowing with ghostwriting agencies and essay mills that promise academic papers on every topic imaginable. Agencies and essay mills employ writers that create papers and dissertations. Prices and quality vary widely. 

Agencies usually assert that their dissertation writers are professionals and knowledgeable in their fields. However, customers have little chance of verifying these claims. 

Moreover, ghostwriters and writers working for essay mills are paid by the project. The quicker they finish, the more work they can take on. Writing a high-quality, well-researched paper takes time. Ghostwriters have no incentive to do time-intensive research. Therefore, there is no guarantee that their work is of a quality high enough to pass a course. 

Writing academic texts with AI (ChatGPT, YouChat...)

More recently artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a player in the ghostwriting field. If you are using Gmail, you have almost certainly experienced AI-generated texts as Gmail suggests words and even whole phrases as you type.  ChatGPT and  YouChat  write texts at your request.

AI writing tools create content and automate many aspects of the writing process such as structuring a text, coming up with headlines, and writing paragraphs. Since everything is automated, these services are usually cheaper than hiring a professional ghostwriter. However, AI writing tools draw from existing sources on the internet and repurpose them. It is possible that their essays could be flagged by plagiarism software . Moreover, Compilatio can tell the difference between a text written by a human being and an AI such as ChatGPT or YouChat, thanks to its AI detector .

Dissertation writing agencies and AI writing programs promise discretion and plagiarism-free content, but there is no guarantee that their essays and theses will meet the high standards of universities, that they are free of plagiarism, and uniquely produced. With countless ghostwriters, AI services, and thesis-buying agencies in existence, quality varies widely. 

Why Do Students Use Ghostwriters?

The reasons why students decide to buy an essay or thesis are diverse: some lack the time to write papers themselves due to family or work obligations or don’t know how to prioritise and organise their academic work, some did not receive enough support to know how to create original research and writing, some simply see this as a quick and easy way to obtain a degree .   

Frequently students lack confidence or the skills to write academic papers, whether they write in their native language or not. Afraid of failing and convinced that somebody else can turn in a better paper, they turn to ghostwriting agencies and essay mills.

How Do Universities Safeguard Academic Integrity?

Instructors have come up with strategies to minimise students cheating on their essays such as:

• teaching academic integrity and why it is important,
• running writing workshops to teach essay writing, 
• extending deadlines ,
• offering additional support to alleviate pressure,
• opting for in-person written exams , 
• using software to detect plagiarism ,
• assigning essays in stages , where students hand in outlines and drafts before their final paper.

In addition, instructors themselves have access to further training that equips them with tools to safeguard academic integrity such as Compilatio’s training modules on how to raise awareness of good academic conduct and detecting plagiarism. 

Why Is Academic Ghostwriting Banned?

Considered to be contractual cheating, buying a thesis, even buying a short term paper can have severe consequences. Whether written by a human or an AI, ghostwritten papers are a serious academic infraction that in the worst case can lead to expulsion. Degrees can even be revoked retroactively if it becomes clear that a student has cheated to obtain them. 

Hiring a ghostwriter falls under “ contract cheating”. The academic integrity expert Thomas Lancaster first coined the term in 2006: “Contract cheating describes the process through which students can have original work produced for them, which they can then submit as if this were their own work. Often this involves the payment of a fee and this can be facilitated using online auction sites.”

Academic integrity defines the rules that all members of an academic community abide by: 

• honesty, 
• correct citations, 
• not presenting other people’s work as your own, and 
• in general acting ethically in your research. 

When writing a term paper, students demonstrate that they have understood concepts, are able to engage with research respectfully, and write in an appropriate style. In other words, they display academic integrity. 

Plagiarism , the taking of another person’s writing or ideas without crediting them, is the most common academic infringement. The line between plagiarising another’s work and paraphrasing ideas can be quite blurred for students. Some students cheat by accident because they don’t understand what plagiarism is or how to write an original paper.  

Many universities and schools have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism and ghostwriting. Yet, despite the potentially serious consequence of contract cheating, students turn to essay mills, ghostwriters, and dissertation writing services. An estimated 15% of students have purchased papers and essays. 

Ultimately, all students – whether they wrote their assignments themselves, hired someone, or used AI – are subject to the same deadlines, assessment criteria, and grading systems. 

Using someone else to create papers is unfair to your peers . A world where grades can be bought ultimately cheapens and devalues education . In addition, students who pay others to write their essays also cheat themselves out of learning opportunities. 

While writing papers and theses can undoubtedly be a stressful process, it also provides a chance to reflect, think deeply, and create original work . Writing essays can help students hone their creativity and bring their voices and perspectives to a topic. Critical thinking, authenticity, and personal reflection are soft skills that will serve students beyond university. They are not easily taught. Rather, they are acquired through hard work and integrity. 

Some students report feeling remorse after buying an essay. Not only have they cheated their educators and peers , but they have also taken a learning opportunity away from themselves. They might also realise that they lack crucial workplace skills after graduating.

Moreover, instructors work with their students throughout the semester, have likely graded shorter writing assignments already, and know how students formulate thoughts in class. They usually have an idea of how they will perform in their final assignments. 

If a student hands in an essay that is at odds with their previous performance, instructors might get suspicious and start the process of reviewing the work for academic infringement. 

If students clearly understand what constitutes cheating and why it is problematic, if they feel supported and are allowed to work with realistic timelines and achievable workloads, the risk of them cheating decreases. 

What Are Some Legal Alternatives to Hiring a Ghostwriter?  

Students can fall back on various resources to help them write their academic assignments. Many universities have writing centres and free writing courses that help students with their essays and theses. Students can learn how to construct and write a paper, receive feedback on their writing, and might even find a writing group. 

In addition, students can also seek the help of a professional editor or can use an editing software to bring clarity to their writing. 

Compilatio Studium provides many resources to help students with their essays such as guidelines on academic integrity and citations, advice on student life, and methodological guides to help students create their best term paper possible. Some students are worried about plagiarising accidentally. Compilatio’s anti-plagiarism software makes self-checking easy and reliable so that students never have to worry about handing in a faulty paper. 

Using these resources and connecting with their peers, allows students to create original and insightful papers and theses and become part of the academic community. 

Cassy eventually decided to write her own papers after connecting with her writing centre and forming a study group. After many caffeine-fueled nights with her friends, she succeeded, feeling proud of herself and her work. 

The market that caters to students willing to cheat – from essay mills, theses writing agencies, ghostwriters, and AI writing tools – grows steadily. However, so do options for instructors to catch academic infringements.  

Worried about your term papers and tempted to give a ghostwriter a try? You have other options!

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Besides, we can edit your paper to make it look even better or provide a literature review writing service if you just need to create a detailed and argumentative literature review. Our ghostwriters can assist you with any task. Years of writing experience and the excellent reputation of our ghostwriters guarantee your success.

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Ghostwriters in the scientific world

Sankalp yadav.

1 General Duty Medical Officer-II, Department of Medicine & TB, Chest Clinic Moti Nagar, New Delhi, India

Gautam Rawal

2 Associate Consultant, Department, of Respiratory Intensive Care, Max Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi, India

The scientific world is facing a constant problem of ghostwriters. These ghostwriters are often attached to the medical publishing houses and are involved in writing an article for a pharmaceutical company which may, in turn, use the name of an established or a famous scientist as an author to the article. Often, such articles are published in well-known journals and are circulating widely. Many a time the adverse effects are overlooked in such papers. This will result in a corrupt practice of prescribing a drug which is not scientifically useful or may have life-threatening side effects. In this present article, the authors discuss this evil practice of ghostwriting in the context of the present day scientific publishing.

Introduction

The scientific writing is an important part of the skill and career development [ 1 ]. The scientific world is full of medical journal publishing articles that lay the foundation of the future practice of medicine. However, in the context of this, there is a continuing problem of ghostwriting [ 2 ]. The term ghost authorship means that an individual who contributed substantially to a manuscript is not named in the byline or acknowledgments [ 2 , 3 ]. The ghostwriters came after the development of professional medical writers in the late 20 th century [ 4 ]. There are thousands of such medical/ghost writers around the globe [ 4 ]. The international organizations like the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) do not even acknowledge their existence [ 4 ]. As per the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), the ghostwriter is the one who prepares a manuscript for an author, but the writer is not given an authorship [ 5 ]. The whole concept of ghostwriting could have been based on the need for the conversion of the raw data to an intelligible document [ 4 ]. However, it has been abused to a greater extent and even established biomedical journals are not spared [ 4 , 6 ]. A study reported that even the Cochrane Reviews has 39% of authors who do not qualify to be the real authors and do not match the authorship guidelines set by the ICJME and of this 11% were ghost authors [ 7 , 8 ]. In this paper the authors, highlight the issues associated with ghostwriting.

The authors searched the term “ghost author”, “ghostwriter” and “ghost authorship” on Google and read the scholarly articles. Besides, a similar search was made on the PubMed to study the gravity of this problem looming large in the scientific world. A detailed overview of this malpractice and possible solutions are suggested in this paper.

The extent of ghostwriting is very wide. The ghostwritten industry-sponsored articles are a common unethical practice and continue to plague biomedical journals which publish industry-sponsored research [ 9 - 12 ]. Healy reported that the major amount of pharmaceutical articles was ghostwritten [ 13 ]. Flanagin et al. 1998, reported that a substantial proportion of articles (up to 11%) in six peer-reviewed medical journals demonstrate evidence of ghost authors [ 14 ]. Stretton 2014, in her paper, reported the details of six cross-sectional surveys in which the prevalence of possible ghostwriting varied from 0.9% to 24.1% [ 12 , 14 - 18 ]. Also, four cross-sectional survey publications reported the prevalence of ghostwriting/author varied from 0.7% to 70% of publications or authors [ 12 ]. As per the recent studies in the British Journal of Psychiatry and the JAMA, around 11% to 50% of the articles on pharmaceuticals that appear in the major biomedical journals may actually be ghostwritten [ 19 , 20 ]. In a detailed study Gøtzsche et al 2007, reported the extent to be around 75% [ 21 ].

Why ghostwriting ? The extent of ghostwriting is very large [ 22 ]. The majority of the scientific data that becomes available due to a large number of researches going in the various fields needs to be converted into a presentable scientific document [ 23 ]. One way to do so is by the use of professional medical writers who ethically help the researchers to bring the raw data into an intelligible document [ 23 ]. The other is by Medical Education and Communications Company or MECC, that includes a number of professional experts in the field of scientific writing and editing [ 23 , 24 ]. These MECC is industry funded and is paid to write articles in favor of the products of the company [ 24 ]. However, if the legitimate services of medical writing agencies or independent writers are used for the vested interest in order to write something for a product or drug overlooking the adverse effects then this constitutes the ghostwriting [ 23 ]. Many times the ghostwriters are funded by the big pharmaceutical companies [ 24 ]. The main principle for this practice is that the pharmaceutical companies fund the ghostwriters to prepare the manuscript which is forwarded to an established scientist in the field who may or may not be allowed to make changes and in turn, is sent to a reputed journal for publication [ 24 ]. The expert scientist is sometimes not even aware of the funding for this malpractice [ 22 ]. These industry-funded ghostwritten articles are aimed to bring the positive side of the drug and many a time overlooking the adverse effects of the drug [ 24 ]. The reputed journals are often chosen, as this brings credibility to the scientific data in the paper [ 22 ]. The higher the repute of the journal bigger will be its audience and higher will be the number of citations, thus adding weight to the actual paper [ 22 ]. The manuscript published is circulated all over the world and in this way the pharmaceutical companies make huge profits from the sales of the drug recommended by an expert in a reputed journal [ 24 ]. It has been well reported in the medical literature that the ghostwriters have been paid huge funds [ 22 , 25 ].

Some famous examples : The grave problem of ghostwriting is evident by really famous examples like the marketing of drugs Fen-Phen, SSRIs, Neurontin, Zoloft, Redux, Vioxx, etc [ 22 , 25 , 26 ]. The manuscripts which were published on these drugs were ghostwritten and the side-effects were totally ignored [ 22 ]. The ghostwritten papers were in large quantities, thus ensuring a favorable outcome in support of the investigational drug even if the efficacy of the drug is reviewed by a meta-analysis [ 22 ]. The actual problem with the whole process of ghostwriting is grave because of non-transparency in the data presented [ 13 ]. Resulting in serious ramifications on the public health [ 24 ]. The ghostwriting has been also considered as an institutionalized plagiarism [ 22 ]. However, there are guidelines which recommend that anybody involved in the plagiarism should be subjected to strict disciplinary action [ 22 ]. These punishments could even involve the retraction of the paper [ 1 ]. But only a small number of all the retracted articles are ever annulled due to plagiarism [ 1 ]. The EMWA recommends that the authors of the biomedical papers should be in full control of the papers even if the same is written by an expert medical writer [ 5 ]. The role of medical writers should be clearly defined and mentioned either as an author in a review paper (if a substantial contribution is there and willingness to share responsibility is present) or in the acknowledgements or the contributors' section [ 5 , 27 - 30 ]. The interaction between the professional writers and the real authors of a manuscript should be clearly defined using the GATE principles based on the Guarantee, Advice, Transparency, and Expertise as defined elsewhere [ 23 , 28 ]. But the huge amount of funds involved in the ghostwriting and the same provided to the experts just for the sake of taking their name for a biased research, usually funded by a big industry is resulting in dubious data being published in reputed journals thereby putting the public health in jeopardy [ 24 ]. The importance of ethical authorship and good publication practices is extremely important [ 31 ]. The malpractice of ghostwriting is not only present in the pharmaceutical articles, but the same is present in academia as well [ 31 ]. The journals and the medical publishing houses have to take radical steps to curb this problem of ghostwriting [ 23 ]. The industries that fund these will never control it [ 22 ]. The peer-reviewed data are an important part of making health care paradigms and thus the false information will lead to serious consequences on the public health [ 2 ]. The impact could be devastating, especially in the developing countries with low expenditure on health and where the per capita income is low and where the problem of corruption is very big [ 32 , 33 ].

The good aspects of professional medical writing : There is a small but clear line of demarcation between a professional medical writer and a ghostwriter [ 23 ]. Although the ghostwriting is having serious impacts on the science, there are some good points in favor of an ethical medical writer, if appropriately acknowledged [ 19 ]. First, an assisted scientific writing brings the results of the research to the public which, if left to senior clinicians would never be reported due to their busy schedule [ 23 , 19 ]. Also, it has been observed that the senior clinicians may not be familiar with the details of the literature to produce a timely and comprehensive text [ 23 , 28 ]. Secondly, the overall paper quality will be superior due to professional writing as the medical writers are the specialist in writing a manuscript [ 23 , 19 ]. Third, based on the scientific data the adverse drug reactions could well be reported comprehensively in an industry-sponsored research [ 19 , 34 ]. Fourth, that some professional writing agencies may disclose the conflicts of interest more clearly [ 19 ]. Fifth, the clinicians, especially from developing countries have a huge burden of clinical works in addition to the research work and thus the services of professional medical writers will help with the publication of their work and thus will be made available to the general public [ 23 ]. This is also supported by the fact that every year the reputed journals return several important manuscripts for revision or even reject them due to poor writing styles, poor organization of the content and even poor English and grammar [ 23 , 35 , 36 ]. Sixth, the professional writers bring clarity to the articles as if the same may be lacking, then the actual idea that the authors want to communicate may be lost [ 23 , 37 , 38 ]. The professional medical writers are legitimate contributors to the article [ 39 , 40 ]. They are a blessing while ghostwriters are intellectually dishonest, unethical and a curse [ 41 ].

To control this problem, a group of medical writers developed the EMWA [ 42 ]. The purpose of EMWA is to identify the issues with the malpractice of ghostwriting in scientific literature and also to suggest the ways to curb it [ 42 ]. The ghostwriting can be controlled if the stakeholders like journals, authors, medical writing agencies and the agencies involved in supervising the publications work in unison [ 23 , 43 ]. At any stage of the peer review if any, involvement of ghostwriter is suspected by the reviewers then the same should be reported to the editors [ 23 ]. The editors must ensure that a contributorship statement is submitted by the authors [ 23 ]. The section for instruction to authors should include guidance for authorship and acknowledgement [ 23 ]. The ICJME has published important criteria for authorship and also the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) developed a specific policy on ghostwriting [ 41 , 44 ]. Besides, the function of the medical writer in preparing biomedical journal manuscripts is of interest to task forces convened by American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) and EMWA and has resulted in articles of guidelines for medical writers in preparing the scientific documents [ 4 ]. Even after the presence of guidelines, it is very difficult to identify any involvement of an industry in the preparation of any manuscript. Also, if the industry has funded the research and has hired the writing agency then the published paper may become more authentic if the raw data on which the paper is based is also made available to the scientific community for an unbiased analysis and interpretation [ 45 ]. The ghostwriting has really gone to the roots of scientific research and efforts to control it are imperative.

What is known about this topic

• Ghostwriting is prevalent in scientific literature and is underreported;
• Large publication houses are also affected;
• Reputed researchers are the target.

What this study adds

• The extent of ghostwriting is between 0.9%-75%;
• A substantial amount of scientific papers are ghostwritten, policy changes need to include strategies to reduce ghost authorship, in order to curb the overall extent of ghostwriting;
• Emphasis on the development of guidelines similar to those developed by European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), throughout the world to control the malpractice of ghostwriting in scientific literature.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

All the authors have read and agreed to the final manuscript.

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New strategy against breast cancer wins 3 Minute Thesis

2024-08-28T16:00:00+10:00

Lilly Hatwell from the Faculty of Medicine & Health won the 2024 UNSW 3 Minute Thesis Competition.

Photo: Isabella Moore.

PhD candidate Lilly Hatwell’s presentation on breast cancer treatments targeting the androgen receptor has won the 3MT competition and inaugural UNSW Founders Award.

UNSW’s innovative and world-changing doctoral research was on display at the popular 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) final on Tuesday evening.

This year’s 18 contestants distilled their 100,000-word PhD theses into bite-sized three-minute talks, delivered in front of a packed audience at Leighton Hall in the John Niland Scientia Building.

Topics ranged from modifying food prices to help improve diets, to using AI to improve transport planning, and the 16 traits that make for a charismatic leader.

The winner of the $3000 top prize was Lilly Hatwell from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health. She delivered an engaging presentation on game-changing tactics against breast cancer.

“I am incredibly honoured and thrilled to have received first prize and the UNSW Founders Award. The quality and diversity of research across UNSW is inspiring and it is such an exciting event to be a part of,” Lilly said.

Lilly’s presentation spoke about the ‘hormonal tug of war’ in the fight against the most common form of breast cancer. The hormone estrogen is already known to promote the proliferation of cancer cells, and as such, most current strategies target the estrogen receptor. However, many patients develop resistance to this type of treatment.

Her thesis flips the focus and targets a different hormone receptor – the androgen receptor – using a drug that increases its expression. This approach helps the androgen receptor suppress the tumour and steals genes that the estrogen receptor needs to drive tumour growth. Her research combines this drug with clinically available targeted therapies to hopefully identify effective combinations.

Lilly was also presented with the inaugural UNSW Founders Award that recognises the best story deserving to win an award.

She will now go on to represent UNSW at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Finals at the University of Queensland, as well as the International Universitas 21 competitions.

UNSW Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Attila Brungs, extended his praise to all the PhD researchers who presented.

“My congratulations go out to all 3MT finalists for their ongoing dedication to their fascinating research. Each finalist demonstrated the diverse and forward-thinking research that UNSW is renowned for, and I have been left feeling incredibly inspired,” Prof. Brungs said.

“Lilly Hatwell’s presentation on breast cancer treatments targeting the androgen receptor combined with patient specific treatments was outstanding. She displayed exceptional knowledge in her field of research and communicated it to the audience in a clear and engaging manner.”

This year’s 3MT judges included Director of Marinya Capital and newspaper proprietor John Fairfax AO; Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Suzanne Cotter; Co-founder of The Daily Aus, Zara Seidler; UNSW Vice-Chancellor and President, Attila Brungs; and UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Enterprise Professor Bronwyn Fox.

Professor Jonathan Morris, UNSW’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Training and Dean of Graduate Research, said the highlight of this year’s 3MT competition was seeing the University’s talented PhD candidates demonstrate their ability to communicate their world class research.  

“Our PhD candidates are engaged in high quality research and these presentations demonstrate the impact that their research has on society. The 3MT competition showcases their work in a really engaging and accessible way,” Prof. Morris said. 

“I want to congratulate all our outstanding finalists for their efforts. This competition is the highlight of the higher degree research calendar and it’s one of the University’s premier events because it showcases the people who carry out the research and the quality of their work.” 

3MT awardees

Milad Mousavi from the Faculty of Engineering took second place with his innovative research presentation, ‘The Invisible Guardian of the Underground Galaxy’. His research addresses the many lives lost in the mining sector and aims to use a digital invisible guardian to predict accidents.

Third place was awarded to Ellen Bowden-Reid from The Kirby Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health for her presentation on RNA vaccines: the secret weapon against pandemic viruses.

The audience voted for their favourite 3MT in the People’s Choice award, which was awarded to Sari Puspita Dewi from the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture for her presentation on why Indonesian translation of academic textbooks is confusing and how it can be fixed to improve learning.

Media enquiries

For enquiries about this story and interview requests please contact Yolande Hutchinson :

Tel: 0420 845 023 Email: [email protected]

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