Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Detection of Architectural Distortion in Prior Mammograms via Analysis of Oriented Patterns
Published on: August 30, 2013
Duplicate publication and 'paper inflation' in the Fractals literature
R N Kostoff1, D Johnson, J A Del Rio
1Office of Naval Research, 875 North Randolph Street, Arlington, VA 22217, USA. kostofr@onr.navy.mil
Abstract:
The similarity of documents in a large database of published Fractals articles was examined for redundancy. Three different text matching techniques were used on published Abstracts to identify redundancy candidates, and predictions were verified by reading full text versions of the redundancy candidate articles. A small fraction of the total articles in the database was judged to be redundant. This was viewed as a lower limit, because it excluded cases where the concepts remained the same, but the text was altered substantially. Far more pervasive than redundant publications were publications that did not violate the letter of redundancy but rather violated the spirit of redundancy. There appeared to be widespread publication maximization strategies. Studies that resulted in one comprehensive paper decades ago now result in multiple papers that focus on one major problem, but are differentiated by parameter ranges, or other stratifying variables. This 'paper inflation' is due in large part to the increasing use of metrics (publications, patents, citations, etc) to evaluate research performance, and the researchers' motivation to maximize the metrics.
Related Concept Videos
Distribution and Dispersion
Second Uniqueness Theorem
In contrast, consider that the electric field is non-unique and apply Gauss's law in divergence form in the region between the conductors and the integral form to the surface...
Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble
Poisson's And Laplace's Equation
Divergence and Stokes' Theorems

