We have published Open problems in research and publishing: 37 problems that are still open, from paper mills and fake peer reviewers to hallucinated references, retraction status that disagrees between databases, and journals that vanish from the web.
Each problem carries its published evidence and a line that says what solved means: the test an entry must pass. For hallucinated references, for example, it is a public check that flags at least 95% of nonexistent references in a blind test set of 1,000 submitted reference lists, with under 2% false flags, used at ingestion by at least one major index.
The prize. US$1,000 for the highest-scoring solution of round 1, and a year of Smart Scholars services for one journal, free, for the highest-scoring entry that solves each problem. Entering is free, and nobody has to buy or use a Smart Scholars service to enter or to win.
The dates. Round 1 opens on 1 December 2026 and closes on 31 May 2027 at 23:59 IST; winners are named by 30 June 2027. Entries sent from now count in round 1.
Who it is for. Universities, publishers, journals, editors, authors, reviewers, libraries, indexes, funders, and researchers in industry and academia: anyone who can fix one of these problems, or show how it can be fixed.
Read the 37 problems and the rules: https://smartscholars.in/open-problems.php
Know a problem we have missed? The page takes suggestions too.
