Op4G Indictment Triggers Review of Studies Tied to $10 Million Fake Survey Scheme
Updated
Updated · Retraction Watch · Aug 6
Op4G Indictment Triggers Review of Studies Tied to $10 Million Fake Survey Scheme
1 articles · Updated · Retraction Watch · Aug 6
Summary
A half dozen U.S. institutions are rechecking papers and manuscripts after prosecutors accused Op4G of selling fabricated survey data from 2014 to 2023 in a $10 million scheme.
Researchers say the damage is hard to isolate because fake responses were mixed with legitimate ones — a practice employees allegedly called “scrambling the eggs.”
One fallout case has already surfaced: The Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology retracted a 2023 paper in June after authors lost confidence in Op4G-supplied data.
Northwestern psychologist David Victorson said his NIH-backed mindfulness team scrapped near-submission manuscripts, recollected the data and reran the analysis; the main findings held with slightly different numbers.
Court filings say Op4G and later Slice MR used employees, relatives and bogus respondents in the U.S., Serbia, India and Brazil until a 2022 whistleblower helped unravel the operation.