Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also ignited a battleground in the domain of information. The conflict has been accompanied by a relentless disinformation offensive designed to manipulate public opinion and undermine democratic processes. This paper deals with the role of academia and scholars i...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Journalism and Media |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/48 |
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| author | Ricardo Morais Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval David Blanco-Herrero |
| author_facet | Ricardo Morais Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval David Blanco-Herrero |
| author_sort | Ricardo Morais |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also ignited a battleground in the domain of information. The conflict has been accompanied by a relentless disinformation offensive designed to manipulate public opinion and undermine democratic processes. This paper deals with the role of academia and scholars in focusing this information warfare. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of scientific articles to examine how researchers and institutions have addressed fact-checking initiatives. To this end, performance analysis and literature review are combined to observe the state of academic investigations on fact-checking during the first thousand days of war in Ukraine (from 24 February 2022 to 19 November 2024). To do this, we identified 595 fact-checking articles in the Web of Science database within the “Social Sciences” category and narrowed the focus to 270 articles in the field of “Communication”. Finally, through an in-depth literature review of eight manuscripts, we seek to understand the specific strategies employed by academics to address the conflict between Russia and Ukraine through fact-checking. Our findings suggest that fact-checking research on the Russia–Ukraine war predominantly examines the impact of disinformation in conflict contexts, the role of media literacy in countering false narratives, and the contribution of citizen journalism to verification efforts. These conclusions can shed light on the crucial role of academia in safeguarding truth and fostering informed public debate in an era of information overload and manipulation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-80c88fbe947749cead8d4dcbf14ca6fc |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2673-5172 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journalism and Media |
| spelling | doaj-art-80c88fbe947749cead8d4dcbf14ca6fc2025-08-20T03:16:18ZengMDPI AGJournalism and Media2673-51722025-03-01624810.3390/journalmedia6020048Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine WarRicardo Morais0Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval1David Blanco-Herrero2Department of Communication and Information Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, 4150-564 Porto, PortugalDepartment of Sociology and Communication, Faculty of Communication, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 19268, 1000 GG Amsterdam, The NetherlandsThe Russian invasion of Ukraine has also ignited a battleground in the domain of information. The conflict has been accompanied by a relentless disinformation offensive designed to manipulate public opinion and undermine democratic processes. This paper deals with the role of academia and scholars in focusing this information warfare. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of scientific articles to examine how researchers and institutions have addressed fact-checking initiatives. To this end, performance analysis and literature review are combined to observe the state of academic investigations on fact-checking during the first thousand days of war in Ukraine (from 24 February 2022 to 19 November 2024). To do this, we identified 595 fact-checking articles in the Web of Science database within the “Social Sciences” category and narrowed the focus to 270 articles in the field of “Communication”. Finally, through an in-depth literature review of eight manuscripts, we seek to understand the specific strategies employed by academics to address the conflict between Russia and Ukraine through fact-checking. Our findings suggest that fact-checking research on the Russia–Ukraine war predominantly examines the impact of disinformation in conflict contexts, the role of media literacy in countering false narratives, and the contribution of citizen journalism to verification efforts. These conclusions can shed light on the crucial role of academia in safeguarding truth and fostering informed public debate in an era of information overload and manipulation.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/48fact-checkingdisinformationperformance analysisliterature reviewWeb of Sciencesocial sciences |
| spellingShingle | Ricardo Morais Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval David Blanco-Herrero Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War Journalism and Media fact-checking disinformation performance analysis literature review Web of Science social sciences |
| title | Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War |
| title_full | Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War |
| title_fullStr | Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War |
| title_short | Beyond Information Warfare: Exploring Fact-Checking Research About the Russia–Ukraine War |
| title_sort | beyond information warfare exploring fact checking research about the russia ukraine war |
| topic | fact-checking disinformation performance analysis literature review Web of Science social sciences |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/48 |
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