A 404 Media investigation found that Research Gold, a company advertising medical research services, lists AI-generated fake PhD reviewers and uses real researchers’ identities without permission, despite promising work that is “100% human-written, never AI.”
Research Gold sells drafting of peer-review-ready manuscripts, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, citing PRISMA 2020 and Cochrane Handbook methodology. Its site features a team of eight methodologists, including founder Dr. Elena Vasquez and scoping review specialist Dr. Mei-Lin Chen, none of whom appear to exist. The portraits attached to those names also look machine-made.
Other listed methodologists are real, but say they never agreed to be featured. Jenny Berrio, an evidence synthesis scientist, told 404 Media she does not work for the company and only learned her identity was being used when the outlet contacted her.
A phone call to the company reached an automated assistant that would not admit to being automated and kept pushing the service. Written exchanges, too, showed every sign of machine generation.
The case highlights how AI is straining trust in biomedical publishing. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses guide clinical decisions, and fabricated authorship with undisclosed AI use threatens the credibility of the literature doctors rely on.
