Also called: Research Image Forensics Analyst, Publication Integrity Analyst
Checks the photos and data images in scientific papers for copied, cut-and-pasted or doctored pictures before journals publish them.
Each morning a stack of accepted papers lands in your queue. You zoom into gel bands and microscope pictures, run software that spots duplicated patches, and find that two 'different' tissue images are the same one flipped. You write the editor a careful note, because a mistake is not always fraud.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Usually a PhD or master's in biology plus lab experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology.
Growing faster than average. Growing as AI makes faking images easier.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI tools now flag duplicated images fast; humans confirm fraud, judge honest mistakes and handle tough conversations.
Classes: Biology, Photography or digital art, Statistics.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.