News
An associate professor at Moscow’s Sechenov University has embedded himself in an Iran-Iraq-linked publication scheme involving top academic journals in Europe and the U.S., creating what appears to be a well-oiled operation for selling the authorship of scientific papers. The scheme was detailed by the Russian science publication T-invariant, anti-plagiarism activist and Dissernet co-founder Andrei Rostovtsev, and the project’s coordinator Larisa Melikhova.
At the center of the scheme is Dmitry Bokov, a pharmaceutical chemistry specialist at the First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University). Bokov allegedly paid to be listed as a co-author on plagiarized and rewritten papers sold through various “exchanges,” then he used those same platforms to get the articles published in reputable Western scientific journals — which, for unclear reasons, accepted them. Bokov published hundreds of such papers and strategically paid for citations in other plagiarized works in order to inflate his h-index and other scholarly metrics.
Academics who publish such papers are often awarded grants from their home institutions, but Sechenov University likely did not object to the investment, as Bokov’s “work” effectively opened up a channel into top-tier journals. Investigators found that over the course of five years, the young researcher published 260 papers. In 2022 alone, he authored 100 articles — averaging two per week. By comparison, T-invariant notes that renowned medical scholar Dariush Mozaffarian published just 104 articles in three years. Bokov’s h-index is now comparable to that of many Nobel laureates in physics.
Initially, investigators suspected Bokov was “publishing” this work solely in order to receive university grants. But the operation turned out to be far more expansive: after infiltrating the Iran-Iraq plagiarism network, Bokov appears to be building his own global “plagiarism exchange.”
How Bokov built his “expertise”
- For years, Bokov purchased co-authorships on plagiarized scientific papers. These were sold via platforms like the Russian-based Mezhdunarodny Izdatel’ (lit. “International Publisher”) exchange, the Latvian Science Publisher Company, and an as-yet-unnamed Iran-Iraq-based exchange. He then submitted the papers to high-ranking Western journals, where peer reviewers somehow approved them. Sechenov University became the top client of the International Publisher, with its researchers authoring hundreds of articles featuring plagiarized content and fake co-authors.
- The named co-authors often included individuals from Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, and China — many of whom likely had no real involvement. This created an illusion of international collaboration, boosting the scientific credentials of both Bokov and his “co-authors.” What’s more important, however, is that this gave Bokov access to the Iran-Iraq plagiarism network.
- Citations in the papers of Bokov and his collaborators often point to unrelated or low-quality work. Investigative site For Better Science suggests that low-tier authors pay prolific “super-publishers” like Bokov through citation brokers to plant these irrelevant citations. This artificially inflates the h-index and other scholarly metrics for both parties.
“Quality tuberculosis” and AI-generated gibberish
In 2022 some journals began catching on, and Bokov’s papers started getting retracted. Investigators identified at least 19 such incidents, citing plagiarism, dubious authorship, and citation manipulation.
Detecting the plagiarism wasn’t easy. Standard anti-plagiarism tools failed to flag issues, and only a careful, manual comparison of texts revealed that they conveyed identical content.
In one still-available paper, Bokov described “quality tuberculosis” as something that “must be prepared in such a way that it remains stable for months and does not settle.” Investigators suspect this nonsensical phrase resulted from automated rewriting software misinterpreting context — swapping “suspension” for “tuberculosis,” for example.
The two faces of Dmitry Bokov
Investigators found that Bokov essentially operates in two professional identities:
- The first Bokov is a Russian pharmaceutical and nutrition expert, who regularly publishes with Sechenov University and its Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology. He appears as an author on most of these collaborations, often with colleagues from Sechenov, RUDN University, or other Russian institutions. Occasionally, co-authors from Serbia, Lithuania appear.
- The second Bokov is a global co-author-for-hire who is listed on international papers across disciplines with authors from Asia and North Africa. These are typically published in high-impact European and American journals (Web of Science and Scopus, Q1–Q2). However, such journals seem to grow suspicious quickly — limiting Bokov’s publications after one or two submissions. These are the papers most likely to be retracted. The bulk of his work ends up in low-tier or “predatory” journals — mostly Indian — indexed at Q3 or lower in Scopus, T-invariant reports.
Bokov’s transformation into a “publishing exchange”
Upon discovering this duality, the investigators concluded that Bokov, inspired by International Publisher, set out to become an exchange in himself. He already had the infrastructure, academic standing, and backing from Sechenov University’s leadership.
After “Bokov 1” built academic capital through metrics, international co-authorships, and peer-reviewed publications, “Bokov 2” leveraged that reputation to broker authorship slots — no longer just buying, but selling them. His main clients are scholars from the Middle East and South Asia who are eager to publish in Western journals in order to advance their careers.
By embedding himself in the Iran-Iraq plagiarism cartel, Bokov expanded his influence — offering Sechenov University greater visibility in global academia while positioning himself as a “face” of Russian science in high-ranking publications. He reportedly offers co-authorships to others in collaboration with International Publisher.
Everyone benefits, notes T-invariant: Sechenov University receives state subsidies for employee publications, especially in top-tier journals (retractions often go unnoticed by bureaucrats); staff earn performance bonuses; and International Publisher keeps its revenue stream. Bokov, meanwhile, is celebrated from all sides.
And he’s not the only one in Russia doing this.
According to For Better Science, one of Bokov’s co-authors — Rafael Luque, who has “authored” over 700 articles — is the “king of publication mills.” Luque was expelled from the University of Córdoba over illicit payments from Saudi Arabia and Russia and now works at RUDN University in Moscow. Luque, the investigators say, is doing for RUDN what Bokov is doing for Sechenov.
Luque was recently honored at a Kremlin ceremony recognizing foreign professors who have made major contributions to Russian higher education. T-invariant speculates that it may only be a matter of time before Bokov receives similar recognition.