The last couple of months a significant number of RG members were “harassed” by scammers with non-sensical requests/questions. With the purpose to extract personal info from you, check the power of AI generated responses, or whatever their purpose might be.
Because of this RG changed their policy that you now can only message those who are following you.
So, the approach of the scammers is now: create a fake account, ask a pseudo-legit question and start to follow those who react (and they hope that you will follow them back) and subsequently ask again a non-sensical request/question. Or when you answer they reply and ask for connection to LinkedIn etc.
Check the profile and so far, all of them have:
0 papers
RG interest score --.
1 question
Conclusion: fake account and click on Report (and report to RG that you suspect that this is a fake profile).
Not sure about all of them, but here are examples of the now remarkably frequently "one question profiles" here on RG:
Jiaxin Xu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jiaxin-Xu-29/ did asked to send a PM (https://www.researchgate.net/post/Call_for_Papers_Memorial_Issue_to_Prof_Kazuo_Umezawa_A_Noteworthy_Biochemistry_Educator) and now seem to offer paper mill options. I reported this profile. Perhaps those who read this can do the same? Update 02-01-2025 this profile is finally removed
Mo Yu Chen https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mo-Chen-86 in the meantime discontinued
Dipro Paul https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dipro-Paul/ asked for connecting through a platform like LinkedIn (https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_Research_Tool_help_researchers and here https://www.researchgate.net/post/Feedback_Survey_for_Research_Tool_Development )
vi Phan https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vi-Phan-3
Qin Ming https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qin-Ming-6
Abdulbasit Khdr https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abdulbasit-Khdr
Zahra Mehrabi https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zahra-Mehrabi-3
Bohdan Mykhailyshyn https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bohdan-Mykhailyshyn
Hoshi Yoshida https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hoshi-Yoshida/research reported this profile. In the meantime discontinued
Mubarek Mohamed https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mubarek-Mohamed
Javeria Khalid https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Javeria-Khalid-18 promote the researchpedia.info website extensively
Даниела Попова https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniela-Popova-4
Hanif Kusuma https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hanif-Kusuma-3
Sai Krishna Rao Kaveliga https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sai-Krishna-Rao-Kaveliga
Lizell Condori https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lizell-Condori
Wei Shu Lin https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wei-Li-932 in the meantime discontinued
Aina Nazirah https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aina-Nazirah-3
Mohamad Albachir Ezzeddine https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamad-Albachir-Ezzeddine
Pamela John https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pamela-John-2
Li Li https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li-Li-1378 in the meantime discontinued
Ele Riret https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ele-Riret in the meantime discontinued
Caroline Huang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Caroline-Huang-13 made a ridiculous comment here Article Effects of a single-session, online, experiential happiness ...
in the meantime discontinuedAnna Qiu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna-Qiu-7/research in the meantime discontinued
Kaustav Deb https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kaustav-Deb-2
Faijunnesa Rashid https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Faijunnesa-Rashid Asked two suspecious question that suggests paper mill advertisement...here https://www.researchgate.net/post/Research_collaborator_required and here https://www.researchgate.net/post/Research_collaborator_required2
Tasneem No Tasneem https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tasneem-Tasneem-5
Zhor Chergui https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhor-Chergui-2
Fady Gendy https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fady-Gendy-2
Ruiyi Sun https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruiyi-Sun
Amanii Zhang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amanii-Zhang in the meantime removed
Funke Jiyah https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Funke-Jiyah
Salamen Martin https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Salamen-Martin
Alex Thiangichu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex-Thiangichu in the meantime discontinued
Farhan Ul Haq Subhani https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Farhan-Ul-Haq-Subhani
Haruko Sakuragi https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Haruko-Sakuragi in the meantime discontinued.
Arif Sari https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arif-Sari-5
Benedict Valentine Arulanandam https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benedict-Arulanandam-2
Subhajit Ghosh https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Subhajit-Ghosh-33
Sevican Kurtu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sevican-Kurtu in the meantime removed
Lila Lia https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia in the meantime removed
Na Li https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Na-Li-472 in the meantime discontinued
Annie Huang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Annie-Huang-28 in the meantime removed
Li Na https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li-Na-127 in the meantime discontinued
Lila yao Jia https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia-3 is in the meantime changed into https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nancy-Li-38 in the meantime discontinued
Xiaodi-Wu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaodi-Wu-7 in the meantime removed
Ruchit Parekh https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruchit-Parekh-4 update 19-08-2025 finally, finally this profile is removed!
Chelse Mario https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chelse-Mario in the meantime removed
Xiaoyi Zhang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaoyi-Zhang-57 in the meantime discontinued
Ai Xiao https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ai-Xiao-2 in the meantime removed
Weoium Li https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Weoium-Li profile removed
Diana Ailyn https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diana-Ailyn
Guillaume Jean https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Guillaume-Jean-6
John Crandall https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Crandall-7
Kimberly Jane https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kimberly-Jane
During the last months, three young ladies with RG profiles contacted me concerning my scientific interest, but their indicated fields were far from mine. In one case I found that the identity was stolen from an American professor, but the portrait was quiet different. Two of these profiles were deleted recently. Probably due to this, ResearchGate removed the "Message" button in most cases (it appears only when the given user follows you); see this discussion: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Cant_access_a_paper_that_I_was_supposedly_sent
I have just been bombarded with fake 'recommendations'. An 'article' was listed twice in RG, one of which lists the British Journal of Aesthetics as the publication source. I 'followed' it to read later. Within hours I received several 'recommendations', spiking quickly within a few days. I had time this morning to check out one of the 'articles' more carefully, and it even has a fake DOI. I've been asked for full texts, and approached on LinkedIn (fake account). And this morning I got an email which said that a colleague 'found me on Research Gate', and I was being asked to publish with their 'World Culture' series (fake). And I am now stuck with a load of recommendations that are clearly questionable as the profiles from which the recommendations stem have nothing to do with my research area - and are also fake or impersonating someone. I have reported the two fake articles (and three fake or stolen identities, or similar) to RG.
Thanks for the information. Sharing experiences like these will help reduce fake articles and recommendations. It is painful to fall into the wrong hands.
It seems that the scammers use the comments function now, see my comment on previous comments in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327546437/comments.
Yes, an irrelevant Arabic (credit card related) answer was written to my question. I reported it to the team. However, it would be better if there were easier blocking or deleting features on the site. Frankly, I couldn't see who was on the team either.
In addition to my reply of January 28:
The original scam comment in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327546437/comments was removed so that the reason for my comment there is no longer clear. Anyway, comments will be removed on May 1 (see https://www.researchgate.net/post/RG_discontinued_Comments_on_research_items). My comment was:
"Be warned of fake accounts of (allegedly) young women trying to contact you. The account of
Deleted user
looks very suspicious. See this discussion started by Rob Keller : https://www.researchgate.net/post/New_type_of_scam_New_approach_using_fake_accounts. Direct messaging is no longer available, so they appear to have started using the comments function."
Dear Rob Keller , I had an experience with those fake accounts. I have got a lot of messages, and after reports, those persons were removed. I have tried to see some related messages, but those people appear as "deleted account" . Some asked for my WhatsApp account and phone...
Young ladies are gone! :)
Rob Keller thanks for information! Now I understand why I can't contact someone who is not following me... I used this function earlier to contact people working in my subject worldwide and it was very useful. But we, humans have tendency to use almost everyting for wrong purposes...
Dear Ljubomir Jacić
As discussed, a little bit in the question https://www.researchgate.net/post/New_very_misleading_type_of_scam_Anyone_with_recent_examples we notice that in (too) many cases the RG team lacks action against obvious imposters. Even in obvious cases I see no action. Already a while ago I reported Faijunnesa Rashid https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Faijunnesa-Rashid
In for example question https://www.researchgate.net/post/Research_collaborator_required2
It is clearly a paper mill attempt. Just compare the structure of the message to an example of how paper mill scams advertise their ‘service’ (as found by Nick Wise and shared on PubPeer https://pubpeer.com/publications/AF45EAE30B3D930F0C58F1C67237B7
I checked today and both the profile and the question(s) are still present here on RG.
I guess sending our concerns towards the RG team members is all we can do.
Best regards.
Many thanks for this relevant and related example of paper mill attempt. Dear Rob Keller , I have also reported those two researchers but nothing happens. No RG feedback at all! That is all we can do! You well noticed: "...in (too) many cases the RG team lacks action against obvious imposters."
I think ResearchGate have no enough employees, AI is applied so much!
Best regards.
Furthermore, dear Rob Keller , Faijunnesa Rashid has another, very similar question which was posted on September 27, 2024. September 30th was her deadline!!!
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Research_collaborator_required
It seems that she succeeded in her dishonest plan. She has found 5th and 6th author in 3 days! Thereafter, thy have published this article on microplastics.
Article Microplastic Contamination in Table Salt: A Study of Consume...
The article was published in November 2024!
Paper Milling within ResearchGate community is widespread, while RG do not act!!!
The sixth author is well-known to You, dear Rob. It is Mustafizur Rahman.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mustafizur-Rahman-10
You have taken part in his question:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Request_for_Support_for_a_published_article_Article_Publication_Fee
There are much more actors who play this scam game. What do You think about this questions and profiles dear Rob Keller ? I have checked and these are not listed on your long introductory list.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Call_for_Research_Collaborators
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Seeking_for_citation_boosting_collaboration
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Call_for_Research_Collaborators-Join_as_a_Co-Author
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Collaboration_in_article_writing
That list seems almost inexhaustible...
Dear Ljubomir Jacić
Again well spotted. Unbelievable that this type of scam still works (at least on the short-term). The pool of deception by this Faijunnesa Rashid person is even bigger. I came across the LinkedIn profile and found yet another paper mill attempt (see screenshot).
By the way I would be very disappointed if this attempt would work since I assume that Springer Nature tightened their publishing terms that should prevent adding author names once the manuscript is submitted.
Anyway, yet another reason to expel this person here on RG.
Best regards.
Dear Ljubomir Jacić
Unbelievable what a mess. Indeed, this Arif Sari person is suspect. I noticed that there is at least one 'publication' 'awarded with a retraction in his list of publication. According to PubPeer https://pubpeer.com/publications/6CB56A27595FDA7450BA91392A319A this ‘publication’ is a sad example of a paper mill operation (see also enclosed figure).
By the way one of the co-authors is Walid Kamal Abdelbasset, this is a person with an ‘impressive’ number of issues in PubPeer (with a huge number of retractions) https://pubpeer.com/search?q=abdelbasset
There is another paper in the list of publications of this person with the suspicion of a paper mill operation https://pubpeer.com/publications/4B49BA997C52BEB9EC99DD966C4E4D
For Ciamak Ghazaei I’m not sure. A superficial check did not render obvious red flags, for now…
The basically empty profile of Albert Botchwey https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Albert-Botchwey/research looks indeed suspect. Update 20-04-2025: I think it is a fake profile. The e-mail used in his questions [email protected] corresponds to a certain McLord Selasi Azalekor as mentioned here https://gh.linkedin.com/in/mclord-selasi-azalekor-3597b2348
Indeed, the list seems endless. RG should make it more of a priority to eliminate these criminal attempts. This pollutes the platform, which should be a safe and genuine haven of scientific exchange of ideas and information.
Best regards.
Scamers should be exposed. I will like to have more information about Iraqi scientific research platforms. There is a request for collaboration with Middle Technical University, Institute of administration Rusafa, Iraq, Baghdad.
After report to ResearchGate of some fake profiles, I have got an answer from Sam. I do think that it is chatbot's response dear Rob Keller . The answer arrived 9 days after my report. Do You receive the same feedback from RF support?
"...Thanks for your message, and for bringing this to our attention. ResearchGate is a platform that enables users to post content and interact with each other. We do not generally monitor or review content posted by users. That said, in light of your report, we will review the content you have reported and determine whether to take further action. If there is additional content on the platform that you believe violates our terms or policies, please report it to us using our standard reporting mechanisms, so that we can review it and determine whether to take further action..."
Best regards.
Dear Ljubomir Jacić Same for me. Received a response (multiple responses) from this "Sam" 9 days after some reports I send to them.
I think they have a serious "backlog" when it comes to respond (and act...) to reports (fake profiles, paper mills adv. etc.).
Unfortunately only a small portion leads to real action.
Sad that attempts to keep this platform a serious and genuine place is not valued as much as it should be.
I guess keep on trying is all we can do.
Kind regards.
I digged into some of the recently active advertisers, and their profiles appear constructed from misappropriated publications and personal data of real researchers. "Lila yao Jia, China University of Geosciences" (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia-3) uses publications of Li Yuan Jia from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and photo of Frances Arnold, 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, as a profile photo. "Li Na, China University of Petroleum" (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li-Na-127) took publications from indonesian researcher Lina from Tarumanagara University in Jakarta, and photo of Dr Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, as an avatar. And "Lila Jia, China University of Geosciences" (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia) uses profile photo of another RG user, Wang Yuan from Tsinghua University (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wang-Yuan-83). So, it looks rather like identity theft.
Dear Victor G Stepanov Great finds. Indeed the profile photo of this Li Na imposter https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li-Na-127 is stolen from https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/lina-khatib
Great find of the person behind the profile photo's of https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia-3 and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Annie-Huang-28 as well, this is indeed Frances Arnold, Nobel Prize winner in 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Arnold
Your are right about the publications too, I noticed this as well. You might call it identity theft but I think it is more:
Creating fake profiles according to the following pattern:
-Create some 'legitimacy' by stealing a profile photo
-And add some 'publications' to your profile that are not authored by you which are not noted when looking at those profiles superficially
-Start advertising campaign by creating questions
-Pollute the questions here on RG with AI generated answers at as many as possible questions and end them all with the (same) attempt to get in touch with you
All this to lure you into a paper mill scam
After RG limited the possibilities to send messages to each other here on RG this a new way to 'collect' potential clients for their fraudulent business.
I guess warning people and report to the RG team is all we can do.
Best regards.
Dear Rob Keller and Victor G Stepanov , here is another one:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaoyi-Zhang-57
I have met him in this discussion room:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Are_there_real_concerns_about_the_use_of_AI_tools_in_scientific_research_and_what_impact_could_AI_have_on_it/1
where I have commented: "Xiaoyi Zhang , this advertisement does not belong here.
"At the same time, I am also a staff member of an academic institution specializing in academic research. If you have academic journals that require collaboration, we can have in-depth exchanges.
Whatsapp:+8618284529771,Email: [email protected]"
I think it is a fake profile which spreads scams over ResearchGate towards paper mills... Be careful dear peers.
All of his 96 answers contain this scam. He is very productive and offensive. He posted all of his answers in two days!!!
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaoyi-Zhang-57/research
Ljubomir Jacić , here are two more:
"Xiaodi Wu" (Whatsapp: +8614702821310, email: [email protected])
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaodi-Wu-7
"Ai Xiao" (WhatsApp: +8619828430672, email: [email protected])
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ai-Xiao-2
Together with "Xiaoyi Zhang" they are on rampage since July 8. I'm affraid these fake identities may be generated faster than RG removes them.
Thanks dear Victor G Stepanov . I have treated some of them here:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/The_phrase_the_world_will_never_be_the_same_after_the_Covid19_pandemic_has_been_said_every_day_Are_you_preparing_for_the_new_normal#view=686f9903c0c51718f803eac2
Dear Ljubomir Jacić Victor G Stepanov Wolfgang R. Dick Some (unexpected) good news. The gang of paper mill fraudsters with fake profiles is removed:
Lila Lia https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia Update 15-07-2025: down as well
Na Li https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Na-Li-472 Update 15-07-2025: finally down
Annie Huang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Annie-Huang-28 Update 15-07-2025: after numerous reports, now down as well
Li Na https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li-Na-127 Update 11-07-2025: yet another one is down now
Lila yao Jia https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lila-Jia-3 Update 11-07-2025: this one is down now
Xiaodi-Wu https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaodi-Wu-7 Update 15-07-2025 down as well
Unfortunately I found two new ones (I think):
Jinfeng Zhang https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jinfeng-Zhang-33/ looking at the question I see (too many) resemblances with previous attempts
Rooney Maloba https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rooney-Maloba this features the well-known features of a fake profile. For example the research paper is not authored by this imposter. The question/answer looks like an attempt to start a dishonest contact.
Best regards.
Many thanks dear Rob Keller for fine information, very, very good news. Unfortunately, newcomers - fake accounts appear every day. Maybe, ResearchGate will be faster in banning fake profiles.
Regards and respects
Dear Rob Keller , this is fine article on issue which You have raised, and we are fighting against!
Does ResearchGate have a growing credibility problem?
A librarian who claims researchers are gaming the system by using fake profiles and inflated metrics explains how the platform can combat misuse...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02182-w
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157724001160?via%3Dihub
I have been followed recently by this new profile at ResearchGate. What do You think dear Rob Keller ?
Very interesting "About Jing" what is next? A lot of illogicality, isn't it?
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jing-Qin-30?ev=brs_overview
Dear Ljubomir Jacić Indeed yet another fake profile. Today I received paper request from a certain Weoium Li Update 17-08-2025: profile removed. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Weoium-Li and although I fully understand why someone wants to read my highly interesting papers ;-) I am 100% sure this is fake.
I suspect that the new way to approach you (and trying to establish a contact) is:
-They start following you (despite there is no link in terms of field of interest etc.)
-They send you a full text request (and add in the text a wish to get in contact with you)
and subsequently hope that you respond (and you start to follow them back).
Needless to say that I rejected/declined this request.
Kind regards,
Rob
Hong Kong has newcomer to RG community. Fake account!
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peng-Hailey-6
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