As AI models are trained on vast amounts of text, including published, polished prose that uses professional typesetting, which is why they default to these more precise characters although they cannot be simply reached by a keyboard. Some examples are

• Em Dash U+2014 Two hyphens (–) or special key commands Used to set off a phrase for emphasis or a sharp break in thought-like this.
• En Dash U+2013 Hyphen (-) Used for ranges of numbers or dates (e.g., 1990-2000) or to join two names in a phrase.
• " " Curly Quotes U+201C, U+201D Straight quotes (“) Typographically correct quotation marks used in formal writing.
• ' ' Curly Apostrophe U+2018, U+2019 Straight apostrophe (‘) Typographically correct apostrophe.
• Ellipsis U+2026 Three periods (…) A single character for an ellipsis.

A forensic caveat: these are heuristics, not proof. Smart-punctuation in any word processor produces identical glyphs from human input, and a model can be told to emit ASCII. The presence raises the prior; it does not establish AI provenance.

/* glyph-highlighter bookmarklet - add this single line as a bookmark */

javascript:(function(){var ID='glyphHL',ex=document.querySelectorAll('mark.'+ID);if(ex.length){ex.forEach(function(m){m.replaceWith(document.createTextNode(m.dataset.c))});document.body.normalize();['_'+ID+'s','_'+ID+'b'].forEach(function(i){var e=document.getElementById(i);if(e)e.remove()});return}var G={'\u2014':['em dash','U+2014','dash'],'\u2013':['en dash','U+2013','dash'],'\u2212':['minus','U+2212','dash'],'\u2010':['hyphen','U+2010','dash'],'\u2012':['figure dash','U+2012','dash'],'\u2015':['horizontal bar','U+2015','dash'],'\u201C':['left double quote','U+201C','quote'],'\u201D':['right double quote','U+201D','quote'],'\u2018':['left single quote','U+2018','quote'],'\u2019':['apostrophe / right single','U+2019','quote'],'\u2032':['prime','U+2032','quote'],'\u2033':['double prime','U+2033','quote'],'\u2026':['ellipsis','U+2026','ell'],'\u00A0':['no-break space','U+00A0','space','NB'],'\u2009':['thin space','U+2009','space','TH'],'\u202F':['narrow nbsp','U+202F','space','NNB'],'\u200C':['zero-width non-joiner','U+200C','space','ZWNJ'],'\u200D':['zero-width joiner','U+200D','space','ZWJ'],'\uFEFF':['BOM / zwnbsp','U+FEFF','space','BOM']};var cls='[\\u2014\\u2013\\u2212\\u2010\\u2012\\u2015\\u201C\\u201D\\u2018\\u2019\\u2032\\u2033\\u2026\\u00A0\\u2009\\u202F\\u200C\\u200D\\uFEFF]';var has=new RegExp(cls),rx=new RegExp(cls,'g');var s=document.createElement('style');s.id='_'+ID+'s';s.textContent='mark.'+ID+'{border-radius:2px;padding:0 1px;color:inherit;box-shadow:0 0 0 1px rgba(0,0,0,.2)}mark.'+ID+'.dash{background:#bcd0ff}mark.'+ID+'.quote{background:#ecc9ff}mark.'+ID+'.ell{background:#b8efe2}mark.'+ID+'.space{background:#ffd0c4;outline:1px dashed #b23b2e;display:inline-block;min-width:.5em;text-align:center}mark.'+ID+'.space::after{content:attr(data-x);font:9px/1 monospace;color:#b23b2e;vertical-align:super;margin-left:1px}';document.head.appendChild(s);var c={dash:0,quote:0,ell:0,space:0},nodes=[],w=document.createTreeWalker(document.body,NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT,{acceptNode:function(n){if(!n.nodeValue||!has.test(n.nodeValue))return 3;var p=n.parentNode,t=p&&p.nodeName;if(t=='SCRIPT'||t=='STYLE'||t=='NOSCRIPT'||t=='TEXTAREA')return 3;if(p&&p.isContentEditable)return 3;return 1}});while(w.nextNode())nodes.push(w.currentNode);nodes.forEach(function(n){var f=document.createDocumentFragment(),v=n.nodeValue,last=0,m;rx.lastIndex=0;while((m=rx.exec(v))){var ch=m[0],i=m.index,g=G[ch];if(i>last)f.appendChild(document.createTextNode(v.slice(last,i)));var mk=document.createElement('mark');mk.className=ID+' '+g[2];mk.dataset.c=ch;mk.title=g[0]+' '+g[1];if(g[2]=='space')mk.dataset.x=g[3];mk.textContent=ch;f.appendChild(mk);c[g[2]]++;last=i+ch.length}if(last<v.length)f.appendChild(document.createTextNode(v.slice(last)));n.parentNode.replaceChild(f,n)});var tot=c.dash+c.quote+c.ell+c.space,b=document.createElement('div');b.id='_'+ID+'b';b.style.cssText='position:fixed;z-index:2147483647;right:12px;bottom:12px;background:#14161a;color:#fff;font:12px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;padding:8px 12px;border-radius:6px;box-shadow:0 2px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.3);max-width:240px';b.innerHTML='<b>'+tot+'</b> typeset glyphs<br>'+c.dash+' dash &middot; '+c.quote+' quote &middot; '+c.ell+' ellipsis &middot; '+c.space+' space/hidden<br><span style="opacity:.7">click the bookmarklet again to clear</span>';document.body.appendChild(b)})();

/* glyph-highlighter bookmarklet - readable source
 *
 * Highlights typeset Unicode glyphs that a plain keyboard does not produce.
 * Run once to highlight; run again on the same page to remove.
 *
 * Categories (CSS class + colour):
 *   dash   blue          em/en/minus/hyphen/figure dash/horizontal bar
 *   quote  purple        curly quotes, curly apostrophe, prime, double prime
 *   ell    teal          ellipsis
 *   space  red, dashed   no-break/thin/narrow spaces + zero-width chars (ZWJ/ZWNJ/BOM)
 *
 * Invisible characters carry a small superscript tag (NB, TH, ZWJ, ...) via ::after,
 * because they have no visible shape of their own.
 *
 * To install: minify to a single line and prefix with "javascript:" as a bookmark URL,
 * or use the one-liner already provided.
 */
(function () {
  var ID = 'glyphHL';

  // --- toggle off: if marks exist, unwrap them and remove injected nodes ---
  var existing = document.querySelectorAll('mark.' + ID);
  if (existing.length) {
    existing.forEach(function (m) {
      m.replaceWith(document.createTextNode(m.dataset.c)); // restore original char
    });
    document.body.normalize(); // merge split text nodes back together
    ['_' + ID + 's', '_' + ID + 'b'].forEach(function (id) {
      var el = document.getElementById(id);
      if (el) el.remove();
    });
    return;
  }

  // --- glyph table: char -> [name, codepoint, category, shortTag?] ---
  var G = {
    '\u2014': ['em dash', 'U+2014', 'dash'],
    '\u2013': ['en dash', 'U+2013', 'dash'],
    '\u2212': ['minus', 'U+2212', 'dash'],
    '\u2010': ['hyphen', 'U+2010', 'dash'],
    '\u2012': ['figure dash', 'U+2012', 'dash'],
    '\u2015': ['horizontal bar', 'U+2015', 'dash'],
    '\u201C': ['left double quote', 'U+201C', 'quote'],
    '\u201D': ['right double quote', 'U+201D', 'quote'],
    '\u2018': ['left single quote', 'U+2018', 'quote'],
    '\u2019': ['apostrophe / right single', 'U+2019', 'quote'],
    '\u2032': ['prime', 'U+2032', 'quote'],
    '\u2033': ['double prime', 'U+2033', 'quote'],
    '\u2026': ['ellipsis', 'U+2026', 'ell'],
    '\u00A0': ['no-break space', 'U+00A0', 'space', 'NB'],
    '\u2009': ['thin space', 'U+2009', 'space', 'TH'],
    '\u202F': ['narrow no-break space', 'U+202F', 'space', 'NNB'],
    '\u200C': ['zero-width non-joiner', 'U+200C', 'space', 'ZWNJ'],
    '\u200D': ['zero-width joiner', 'U+200D', 'space', 'ZWJ'],
    '\uFEFF': ['BOM / zero-width no-break space', 'U+FEFF', 'space', 'BOM']
  };

  // character class covering every key above
  var cls = '[\\u2014\\u2013\\u2212\\u2010\\u2012\\u2015\\u201C\\u201D\\u2018\\u2019' +
            '\\u2032\\u2033\\u2026\\u00A0\\u2009\\u202F\\u200C\\u200D\\uFEFF]';
  var has = new RegExp(cls);        // non-global: safe for .test()
  var rx  = new RegExp(cls, 'g');   // global: used to scan/split text

  // --- injected stylesheet ---
  var style = document.createElement('style');
  style.id = '_' + ID + 's';
  style.textContent =
    'mark.' + ID + '{border-radius:2px;padding:0 1px;color:inherit;box-shadow:0 0 0 1px rgba(0,0,0,.2)}' +
    'mark.' + ID + '.dash{background:#bcd0ff}' +
    'mark.' + ID + '.quote{background:#ecc9ff}' +
    'mark.' + ID + '.ell{background:#b8efe2}' +
    'mark.' + ID + '.space{background:#ffd0c4;outline:1px dashed #b23b2e;display:inline-block;min-width:.5em;text-align:center}' +
    'mark.' + ID + '.space::after{content:attr(data-x);font:9px/1 monospace;color:#b23b2e;vertical-align:super;margin-left:1px}';
  document.head.appendChild(style);

  // --- collect candidate text nodes ---
  var counts = { dash: 0, quote: 0, ell: 0, space: 0 };
  var nodes = [];
  var walker = document.createTreeWalker(document.body, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT, {
    acceptNode: function (n) {
      if (!n.nodeValue || !has.test(n.nodeValue)) return NodeFilter.FILTER_REJECT;
      var p = n.parentNode, t = p && p.nodeName;
      if (t === 'SCRIPT' || t === 'STYLE' || t === 'NOSCRIPT' || t === 'TEXTAREA') return NodeFilter.FILTER_REJECT;
      if (p && p.isContentEditable) return NodeFilter.FILTER_REJECT;
      return NodeFilter.FILTER_ACCEPT;
    }
  });
  while (walker.nextNode()) nodes.push(walker.currentNode);

  // --- wrap each matched glyph ---
  nodes.forEach(function (n) {
    var frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
    var v = n.nodeValue, last = 0, m;
    rx.lastIndex = 0;
    while ((m = rx.exec(v))) {
      var ch = m[0], i = m.index, g = G[ch];
      if (i > last) frag.appendChild(document.createTextNode(v.slice(last, i)));
      var mk = document.createElement('mark');
      mk.className = ID + ' ' + g[2];
      mk.dataset.c = ch;                 // original char, for clean restore
      mk.title = g[0] + ' ' + g[1];      // hover tooltip: name + codepoint
      if (g[2] === 'space') mk.dataset.x = g[3];
      mk.textContent = ch;
      frag.appendChild(mk);
      counts[g[2]]++;
      last = i + ch.length;
    }
    if (last < v.length) frag.appendChild(document.createTextNode(v.slice(last)));
    n.parentNode.replaceChild(frag, n);
  });

  // --- count badge ---
  var total = counts.dash + counts.quote + counts.ell + counts.space;
  var badge = document.createElement('div');
  badge.id = '_' + ID + 'b';
  badge.style.cssText =
    'position:fixed;z-index:2147483647;right:12px;bottom:12px;background:#14161a;color:#fff;' +
    'font:12px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;padding:8px 12px;border-radius:6px;' +
    'box-shadow:0 2px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.3);max-width:240px';
  badge.innerHTML =
    '<b>' + total + '</b> typeset glyphs<br>' +
    counts.dash + ' dash \u00B7 ' + counts.quote + ' quote \u00B7 ' +
    counts.ell + ' ellipsis \u00B7 ' + counts.space + ' space/hidden<br>' +
    '<span style="opacity:.7">click the bookmarklet again to clear</span>';
  document.body.appendChild(badge);
})();

I recently came across the European Journal of Translational Myology publishing papers outside the scope of the journal and outside the expertise of the editorial board.

Editor-in-Chief Ugo Carraro (*1943, former University of Padua researcher) supported EJTM’s broadening from muscle physiology into general medicine, proposing a rename to “Myology, Mobility, Medicine”. The journal subsequently started to publish Iranian clinical papers across orthopedics, dentistry, psychiatry, COVID-19, and urology – not related to myology. In 2022, an Iranian author even published in EJTM a bibliometric study of Iranian output in EJTM itself – a self-referential feedback loop that normalizes the journal as a legitimate Iranian venue inviting further submissions.

The Cegolon bridge

Luca Cegolon (University of Trieste) is the structural intermediary between Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences (BMSU) and Italian academia. He holds at least six joint publications with Einollahi and Javanbakht spanning COVID-19, plasma exchange, ozone therapy, and kidney injury – all on Iranian data. Cegolon completed his PhD at Padua University Medical School, the same institution as Carraro. The Tehran-Trieste-Padua route therefore carries manuscripts from a sanctioned IRGC institution to a Pavia open-access publisher with no regulatory friction.

Javanbakht as serial off-topic submitter

Javanbakht’s EJTM papers cover kidney transplantation pharmacology (Suprotac tacrolimus), male fertility / varicocelectomy, and wrist tendon transfer surgery – none touching myology. The pattern is deliberate: EJTM is Scopus-indexed, open-access and has demonstrated tolerance for off-topic Iranian clinical submissions. The Suprotac APC was almost certainly paid by NanoAlvand Company, the product’s manufacturer, paying a trivially small marketing cost for a PubMed-citable Phase IV label.

The sanctions geography

From March 2013, OFAC regulations prohibited US-owned journals from handling manuscripts authored by Iranian government employees. Elsevier instructed its US editors to reject such manuscripts outright. OFAC sanctions also generated misunderstanding among editors in other countries, who rejected Iranian manuscripts for political rather than scientific reasons, further narrowing the accessible publishing landscape.

The primary exchange is probably not financial but metric. For Cegolon, co-authorship with a high-volume Iranian clinical group accelerates publication output at a career stage where Italian Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale metrics directly determine promotion. For BMSU and NanoAlvand, the European co-author provides editorial access, institutional legitimacy, and a sanctions-circumventing pathway to Scopus. The APC is the transaction cost; mutual bibliometric benefit is the structural incentive - legal, common, and largely misaligned with quality control.

Reactions

15/6/26 I received an email from Ugo Carraro that basically confirms that <EJTM3 has opened up since 2018 to publish any “Medicine” work>. Interestingly he adds that all

Ejtm papers end with the Disclaimer: All statements expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, nor those of the publisher, editors, or reviewers. Any product reviewed in this article or claims made by its manufacturer are not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

So he distances from the content – a strange move. Sure, as a liability device, it is a standard, boilerplate non-endorsement clause found across many journals. Under ICMJE and COPE norms, editors retain responsibility for what they accept, including registration requirements, scope fit, and conflict-of-interest handling. A publisher cannot contract out of that responsibility after the fact via a footer. The disclaimer does not address why a prospectively-unregistered, manufacturer-funded bioequivalence study was accepted in a myology journal. The authors responded with some AI generated appeasement while the publisher response is still missing.