A problem yes, but I suspect a lot here stems from reference management practices ("I do refs by hand" crowd) in academia generally, amped by AI.
What amazes tho is that these 30% profit margin companies 3yrs in have not invested enough yet in automated ref checking (easier if DOI&bibtex required)
@tryangregory.bsky.socialLazy use of AI by half-ass researchers is putting digital asbestos everywhere, which will be a huge pain in the ass to clean up.
Just do your damn job as a scholar or let someone else with more integrity and competence have your position.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Hallucinated citations are polluting the scientific literature. What can be done?
Tens of thousands of publications from 2025 might include invalid references generated by AI, a Nature analysis suggests.