Is it time for a paper mill blacklist?

Paper mills represent one of science's greatest threats to the integrity of the entire scientific enterprise because they have become entrenched in a culture of the commercialization and corruption of science's assets, whether these be authorships, data sets, entire papers, editorial positions, or influence during editorial processes to favor a culture of unfair publication practices. This journal, which has taken proactive and exemplary steps to deal with this plague of fakery, is no stranger to the workings of such academic criminality, as exemplified by a string of retractions resulting from paper mill interference and association. This letter posits that a public database, and blacklist, of known paper mills is needed, as well as of authors who have a track record of using paper mills, but recognizes that the establishment of such a blacklist may pose practical, legal, and ethical challenges to its implementation and maintenance.