Medical researchers are witnessing a rise in “imposter participants” taking part in surveys and trials, fuelling concerns for patient safety and the reliability of studies.

Imposters vary from automated bots to people lying about previous health issues or deliberately misleading researchers over their conditions and diagnoses.

A review published this year by the British Medical Journal looked at 23 studies and found that 18 contained compromised data sources, with infiltration rates ranging from 3% to as high as 94% of participants. This growing trend could “threaten the integrity of health research and, by extension, the policies and clinical decisions built on it”.

‘Seismic transformation’ from online practices

Academics are in the dark over the exact motivations of the imposters.

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