Fake Peer-Review and Fake Scientific Papers

Detective work at Scientific America has discover papers submitted to prestigious scientific journals with research that either was never done or referenced reviews that never happened.  The trail led to "paper mills" in China where those interested generating a list for themselves of articles published in peer-reviewed journals can buy "fill in the blanks" research. 

The price depends, in part, on the impact factor of the target journal and whether the paper is experimental or meta-analytic. In this case, the MedChina rep offered authorship of a meta-analysis linking a protein to papillary thyroid cancer slated to be published in a journal with an impact factor of 3.353. The cost: 93,000 RMB—about $15,000.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-sale-your-name-here-in-a-prestigious-science-journal/?WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20141218