Wiley investigates biodiversity chapter after at least eight nonexistent citations are flagged

Wiley is investigating concerns that a chapter in its 2024 book *Restoring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post-Industrial Land* contains at least eight references that do not exist. The issue was raised by an ecologist who asked to remain anonymous because she feared retaliation from the chapter’s authors. Retraction Watch reported that she first became concerned after failing to locate a purported 2020 rewilding study in *Ambio*, attributed to “Knijn et al.” She then checked other citations in the chapter and identified at least eight nonexistent references. The ecologist alerted Wiley on Sept. 7 and said she received only an automated acknowledgment. Wiley subsequently said it takes publication-integrity concerns seriously, investigates matters brought to its attention and will take appropriate measures once its review is complete. The disputed chapter had four authors. Bhanu Pandey, one of them, said he had not known about the citations before Retraction Watch contacted him. He said first author Sameer Shekhar had led the compilation of chapter materials and coordinated the submission. Pandey said he was examining the chapter and intended to seek a correction from Wiley. Where a citation proves inaccurate or a statement is unsupported, he said he would propose a correction, revision or removal through the formal process involving the chapter editor and publisher. All four authors were researchers at the CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research in Jharkhand, India, at the time. The other three authors did not respond to requests for comment, including Shekhar, who was contacted several times through professional and personal email addresses. The book was edited by Vimal Chandra Pandey, who is unrelated to Bhanu Pandey and is a researcher at CSIR’s National Botanical Research Institute. He said he would check the matter but did not answer questions about how the references may have escaped notice. Wiley said it uses integrity and quality checks during book proposals, contracting, and manuscript review and development. It also said Edifix, a reference-checking service it owned from 2019 until it was acquired by another company earlier this year, is not among the tools it currently uses. Wiley’s published ethics guidance says its Integrity Assurance & Case Resolution team works with editors on research-integrity cases under its own guidelines, author rules and Committee on Publication Ethics guidance. The company says it can publish permanent, accessible post-publication amendments and may issue an expression of concern when serious concerns require further investigation or evidence remains inconclusive. Retraction Watch has previously noted that fabricated citations can signal misuse of large language models. Wiley said it has published guidance on authors’ use of artificial intelligence.