In July, Laura Schaefer, an American professor of mechanical engineering at Rice University, made a startling discovery while searching for her ORCID researcher ID for a paper submission.
To her shock, she found a research paper under her name in a journal she had never contributed to.
Her initial surprise quickly turned to concern as she realized the issue was far worse—there were more papers attributed to her, covering topics she had never written about, with co-authors she didn’t recognize.
The fraudulent papers appeared in the Journal of Robotics Spectrum, Journal of Machine and Computing, and Journal of Computing and Natural Science—all published by a Kenyan-based company, AnaPub.
None of these journals are indexed in reputable databases like Clarivate’s Web of Science.
Disturbed by the misuse of her name, Schaefer reached out to AnaPub’s managing editor, Emmanuel Sikuku Ogutu, in July, demanding the removal of the papers.
Ogutu responded with an apology, stating that the papers had been linked to “Mr. Laura Schaefer,” whom they claimed was a former student of Rice University.
However, Schaefer, who previously chaired Rice’s Mechanical Engineering Department, confirmed that no such person had ever been enrolled in the department or the entire School of Engineering.
Rice University’s legal team also contacted a former student with a similar name, Lauren Schaefer DiGloria, who confirmed she had never authored any papers with AnaPub.
In response, Rice’s lawyers demanded that AnaPub immediately remove the publications and threatened legal action for fraud.
Despite these efforts, Ogutu informed Rice’s team that “Mr. Laura Schaefer” had been given 60 days to verify their identity, and since then, neither Schaefer nor Rice has received any further communication from AnaPub.
Additionally, Arvind Atreya, a supposed co-author of two of the fraudulent papers and a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, also confirmed that he had no involvement with the papers.
The email addresses listed for both Schaefer and Atreya in the papers were found to be either non-functional or unresponsive.
Schaefer suspects that other names associated with papers on AnaPub’s website might also be forged, as many are affiliated with prestigious institutions.
Despite her efforts, the fraudulent papers remain online, credited to her name.
This incident highlights a troubling trend of forged authorship in academic publishing, with similar cases being reported in the past.
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