tortured phraseとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Coined in a 2021 paper by Cabanac et al. (see first quotation).

名詞

tortured phrase (plural tortured phrases)

1. (neologism) A nonsensical phrase created by replacing words with synonyms in order to disguise plagiarism, typically as a result of "text spinning"

   Synonym: Rogetism

2. [2026 February 18, Cabanac, Guillaume (quotation), “Correction to a retraction highlights tortured phrases have been around longer than LLMs”, in Retraction Watch:

   ‘Tortured phrases are produced by ‘text spinners’: online websites running a basic algorithm that replaces some words with synonyms, using a thesaurus.’]

   • [2021 July 21, Cabanac, Guillaume; Labbé, Cyril; Magazinov, Alexander, “Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science. Evidence of critical issues affecting established journals”, in arXiv, →DOI:

     Our study introduces the concept of tortured phrases: unexpected weird phrases in lieu of established ones, such as ‘counterfeit consciousness’ instead of ‘artificial intelligence.’]

   • 2022 October 24, Lay, Puthineath; Lentschat, Martin; Labbé, Cyril, “Investigating the detection of Tortured Phrases in Scientific Literature”, in arXiv, →DOI:

     The present study aims at investigating how tortured phrases, that are not yet listed, can be detected automatically.

   • 2023 May 4, Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A., ““Tortured phrases” in preprints”, in Current Medical Research and Opinion, volume 39, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, →PMID, pages 785–787:

     This paper highlights the existence of “tortured phrases” in select Covid-19 literature, arguing that they could serve as a class of epistemic marker when evaluating the integrity of the scientific and biomedical literature.

   • 2023 August 3, Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A., ““Tortured Phrases” in Covid-19 Literature: Can They Serve as Epistemic Markers to Assess the Integrity of Biomedical Information?”, in Philosophy of Medicine, volume 4, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 1-24:

     Whereas some “tortured phrases” might represent simple mistranslations, in other cases, an abundance of such terms in a single preprint might reveal a more serious ethical issue, such as the undeclared use of a paper mill or an unprofessional editing service.

   • 2024 February 2, Martel, Eléna; Lentschat, Martin; Labbé, Cyril, “Detection of tortured phrases in scientific literature”, in arXiv‎, →DOI:

     These tortured phrases, e.g. flag to clamor instead of signal to noise, are the results of paraphrasing tools used to escape plagiarism detection.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tortured,‎ phrase.

Further reading

• “tortured phrase”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer.