Steve Vainker

Another BERA article with hallucinated reference published today (now 14).

BERA continues to show absolutely no signs, 6 months after being told of the problem, to care in the slightest.

doi.org/10.1002/curj...

And crystal clear cohesive directions for future research

Full and thorough results section.

Very useful overview of how an academic article works

It's completely all over the place. The methods and results are specifically focused on peer evaluation, but peer evaluation is not mentioned in the introduction or discussion.

It's crazy. And the silence around the @beranews.bsky.social producing endless AI nonsense is remarkable.

This results section would fail any undergrad course. But it's published in a @beranews.bsky.social journal.

It's weird to see the total collapse of editorial standards across the journals of an association of academics, and no one seeming to care.

It makes me incredibly pessimistic.

"Among them, 44 students did an online questionnaire and 174 students responded to an online questionnaire."

This new BERA paper looks great. Really top quality paper. Lots to offer.

And why is marketing italicised??

doi.org/10.1002/curj...

BERA have now published 13 (thirteen) articles with hallucinated references.

It's a scandal that will have to be confronted sooner or later.

This time It's a PIRLS study (large datasets often targeted for LLM articles).

doi.org/10.1002/berj...

The absurdities of a BERA review Beyond the fake references, all LLM authored articles must be retracted

BERA has published well over hundred LLM-authored articles. Each one is likely to contain misleading claims and must be retracted.

Here's one illustration

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

Fake reference:
Mamasadikovna, S., & Borataliyevna, A. (2025). Valuing all student groups: A study of textbook narratives. Journal of
Curriculum Studies, 57(3), 345-360.

From this article: opastpublishers.com/peer-review/cu…

More evidence that many of the articles
BERA publish are AI, even if they don't have fake references.

This Abstract today in the Curriculum Journal is clearly AI-written even though the references all check out.

But in the author's last paper, there was a fake reference.

doi.org/10.1002/curj...

I've marked up a conclusion to an LLM written journal article, showing all the generic post-2023 phrases.

It really clearly demonstrates the pre-packaged approach, that any particular topic or finding can just click into.

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

BERA publish 12 articles with fake references What they need to do next

BERA have published 12 articles with fake refs.

This requires confronting a delicate issue. BERA has objectives to increase diversity. But all articles from countries without robust integrity standards.

Has this has led them to being a soft touch on LLM articles?

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

One of the fake refs was supposedly in the same journal: Yang, S. J., Gao, J. X., & Cui, G. Z. (2020). Effects of gamification on students' academic performance in STEM education: A meta-analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(4), 1186–1207.

Wu, P. F., Wu, T. T., & Hwang, G. J. (2021). Gamification, motivation and learning performance in distance education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 173, 104295. doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

<em>British Journal of Educational Technology</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library Gamification, characterized by the integration of game design elements into non-game environments, has gained popularity in classrooms due to its potential for increased engagement and enjoyment comp....

doi.org/10.1111/bjet...

Snyder, J. J., & Snyder, M. J. (2008). Searching for education: The usefulness and user-friendliness of ERIC and Google scholar. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 49(3), 181–192.

11th BERA article with fake refs. One to support this incredible 2024 sentence:
'Additionally, we conducted a systematic literature search across two academic databases, ProQuest & Taylor & Francis Online, as they have been recommended in the field of education research (Snyder & Snyder, 2008)'

"can thrive both academically and personally."
Before 2024: 4
Since: 68

" highlight the importance of designing learning environments"
Before 2023: 3
Since: 13

"pathway to stronger outcomes."
Before 2025: 0
Since: 2

"but socially, professionally and personally."
Before 2025: 0
Since: 2

"diverse student needs and fosters "
Before 2024: 0
Since: 13

“feel seen, included and supported”
Before 2023: 0
Since: 7

"is vital for inclusivity,"
Before 2023: 4
Since: 26

" in discussions that deepen understanding."
Before 2024: 0
Since: 4

"human connection and live interaction"
Before 2023: 0
Since: 2

Impressive, in a way to fit 5 lots of 'not (just) x, but y' into one BERA blog post.

This really matters, not just because it fosters genuine irritation, but because it illuminates probable use of diverse AI tools.

www.bera.ac.uk/blog/cant-le...

First and last sentence: it's not just x, it's Y (used 4 times overall).

Second sentence "fostering active participation and curiosity" (never used before 2024, 7 times since).

No fake reference this time, but as Hattie himself says, he loves to get AI to write for him.

New BERA article makes groundless claims about AI and social and emotional learning Churning out very low quality research can only do harm

Today a BERA journal published a highly misleading article on how AI can develop social & emotional learning.

It uses evidence of AI boosting engagement to argue it can boost emotional competence. These are two very separate things; eliding them can only do harm.

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

New paper in BERJ claims to extend Bourdieu beyond its 'traditional' focus on the individual. 😂

It manages to do this without mentioning the terms 'field' or 'habitus' once. 🤣🤣

Purest AI slop.

doi.org/10.1002/berj...

John Hattie included a fake reference in a foreword to a handbook. Since I pointed this out it's been removed through a stealth edit. (Credit - @tommahoneyedu.bsky.social)

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

Interessant 🤔, per pensar la frase que te @stephenvainker.bsky.social al seu perfil:

“Interested in how the child came to be managed as an employee in our schools”.

#eduCat

New book by Hattie, same old plagiarism Some people still doubt that John Hattie is a plagiarist.

I've just discovered that 2 months after John Hattie threatened to sue me for calling him a plagiarist, he published a book containing this (and 13 other) instances of egregious plagiarism.

It would be funny if he didn't remain such a respected & protected figure.

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...

Screen shot of a reference from an article in the British Educational Research Journal entitled 'Afro-Amerindian cosmopolitics in environmental education: A decolonial analysis of academic discourses involving the epistemological disputes around the term sustainability'.

Hi @berj-2025.bsky.social! The article "Afro-Amerindian cosmopolitics in environmental education" at doi.org/10.1002/berj... cites an article "Development of intercultural relationships at universities" in @jsinted.bsky.social. I'm not finding it. Could you let me know the correct reference please?

BERA continue to ignore flood of AI-authored articles.

They've failed to retract 5 articles with multiple fake references almost 6 months after being informed.

They continue to publish AI-authored articles, even with fake references.

It's a scandal.

stephenvainker.substack.com/p/bera-fails...

Crisis at the Review of Education It appears all four editors have published LLM-written work; seven out of eight papers in current issue LLM-written

Despite the business-as-usual #BERA2025 conference, there's clearly a crisis.

In the current Review of Education issue, 7 out of 8 articles appear LLM-written.

Even worse: all four editors appear to have published LLM-written work (including a fake reference).

open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...