JOINUnited2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations
Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices.
United2Act was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills.
This report describes the process and outcomes of the first phase of United2Act, which was financially supported by STM and COPE, ran for 18 months and concluded in June 2025.
Guidance, publications and training resources developed by five working groups are detailed in the paper. As United2Act moves into the next phase, a 2-year collaborative project centered on implementation and outreach, we invite the community to join us in using the resources created.
“This whitepaper is both a testament to what we can achieve through collaboration and a call to action for the global research community. Phase 2 of United2Act is about putting the resources we’ve developed through the initiative into practice – ensuring that everyone in the scholarly community, including funders and universities, is informed and equipped to address the challenges posed by paper mills. Meaningful progress depends on shared responsibility and cross-sector collaboration; every stakeholder has a role to play.” – Dr. Nandita Quaderi, Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the Web of Science, Clarivate; co-chair, United2Act