Abalkina is receiving the distinction for her work on fighting fraud in academic publishing. She primarily investigates “paper mills” – organizations that publish fake academic papers and articles and, in doing so, damage the integrity of academic literature as a whole. Her research, which has greatly contributed toward improving international academic standards, is not without risks. For example, it has led to her inclusion on a Russian watch list.

As a research fellow at Freie Universität Berlin’s Institute for East European Studies, Abalkina focuses on corruption in the academic world – and in eastern Europe in particular – as well as academic and publication malpractice in a global context. Abalkina studied in Russia and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Perugia (Italy). She has worked as a consultant at the World Bank and UNCTAD. Before joining Freie Universität Berlin, Abalkina worked as a researcher at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Abalkina uses her expertise to provide publicly available resources, helping others to identify hijacked journals or issues with academic publications. For example, she co-founded the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker: https://retractionwatch.com/the-retraction-watch-hijacked-journal-checker/. This year, Abalkina has also created an Advent calendar that encourages people to put their detective skills to the test and train their ability to spot problems and inconsistencies in academic papers and journals: https://papermills.tilda.ws/advent.

About Nature’s 10

The Nature’s 10 list is published annually. It recognizes key developments that have taken place in science over the past year and tells the stories of some of the people behind them. It is compiled by Nature’s editors to highlight important trends in science, technology, engineering, and medicine, as well as to acknowledge how researchers are shaping our world. Achievements this year range from reimagining how weather is forecast to leading a nation. The 2024 Nature’s 10 list features outstanding individuals from around the world who have addressed global challenges through their work in fields such as epidemiology, planetary science, artificial intelligence, and questions of climate justice.