It's been ten years now since I completed my research into bogus credentials in the safety and health field. I discovered back then that at least three percent of all doctorate degrees in occupational safety and health and related areas came from either a diploma mill or a degree mill. I couldn't determine how many bachelor and master degrees were obtained by this route, but the number was likely in the hundreds.
I wasn't alone in my findings that fake degrees were especially sought after by people in the safety and health field. The authors of "Diploma Mills: Degrees of Fraud" (Stewart and Spille, 1988) observed this as well, and voiced concern for the public's health and safety. Some simple definitions are in order:
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