Whether Taylor & Francis is actively investigating flagged Bioengineered articles

Determine whether Taylor & Francis is actively investigating the Bioengineered articles that this study identified as problematic due to inappropriate image duplication or manipulation or prior retraction.

Background

The study examines publications in the Taylor & Francis journal Bioengineered from 2010–2024 and identifies 226 out of 878 assessed articles as problematic, primarily due to inappropriate image duplication or manipulation, with some already retracted. While Taylor & Francis has stated that Bioengineered has overcome its paper mill problem and has implemented measures to prevent new problematic submissions, the paper emphasizes the backlog of compromised publications that remain in the literature.

The authors note that none of the flagged Bioengineered articles display an "under investigation" banner on the publisher’s website and question the extent of post-publication review being conducted. This gives rise to the unresolved question of whether Taylor & Francis is actively investigating the already-published, flagged articles.

References

However, it remains unclear whether Taylor & Francis is actively investigating these articles.

— Tackling paper mills requires us to prevent future contamination and clean up the past -- the case of the journal Bioengineered (2503.21267 - Aquarius et al., 27 Mar 2025) in Discussion, subsection "Taylor & Francis has not fully addressed the paper mill problem"