This is what happens when your PHD is dependent on how important you graduate thesis is.
I understand the urge to make it difficult but when PHD's are dependent on papers people will do whatever it takes and we get a lot of fake scientific papers because people want the degree.
You should be doing research because you are genuinely interested in the results not to get a piece of paper you can show your family and friends to show them how smart you are.
Worst of all the fake research dilutes the value of research papers in general making you question all your assumptions and the papers they come from.
Unfortunately, there is a chain of dependencies that forces some people to do the wrong things. For example, the number of papers you publish is a major factor among others:
- in receiving grants,
- in hiring you as a researcher by universities,
- in getting your papers accepted by journals.
All these force you to write papers in bulk. But, how many original papers you can write based on a set of data, analysis, and results?
I agree completely, and there is also a profit motive. PhD candidates typically make paltry pay, but have often racked up a good amount of debt that was delayed during their PhD work. In order to get a job that can actually make those years of study and work economically viable, they have to have first authorship on huge papers. At least that's the case in biology right now.
I understand the urge to make it difficult but when PHD's are dependent on papers people will do whatever it takes and we get a lot of fake scientific papers because people want the degree.
You should be doing research because you are genuinely interested in the results not to get a piece of paper you can show your family and friends to show them how smart you are.
Worst of all the fake research dilutes the value of research papers in general making you question all your assumptions and the papers they come from.