While the political elite repeatedly tells us that we need to trust the science, a recent study by German researchers has concluded that 25% of the published medical research papers and 34% of the neuroscience papers they examined are bogus, The Blaze reports.

The researchers attributed this to paper-mills that “use AI-supported, automated production techniques at scale and sell fake publications to students, scientists, and physicians under pressure to advance their careers.”

The Blaze adds:

According to the newly released study conducted by Sabel and other German researchers, which has itself yet to undergo peer review, there were an estimated 300,000 red-flagged, fake publications among the 1.3 million biomedical publications listed in the SCImago portal. Sabel estimated around 34% of neuroscience papers published in 2020 were bogus.

“It is just too hard to believe,” Sabel told the journal Science, suggesting that it is as if “somebody tells you 30% of what you eat is toxic.”

The researchers noted that one group of 712 papers that were classified as “problematic” had been cited in other papers and studies over 17,000 times and a significant percentage of these were recommending therapies for human use.

READ: Report: Nearly 25% of medical science papers and 34% of neuroscience papers are bogus