Five Swedish scientists have admitted to deliberately putting Bob Dylan lyrics into their journal articles as part of a long-running bet.

According to the Karolinska Institutet, where the researchers are based, the men started the ploy 17 years ago, agreeing to fit as many lines from Dylan’s songs into their work as possible before retirement.

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The bet was created when scientists John Lundberg and Eddie Wetizberg penned a journal article about intestinal gasses and titled the piece ‘Nitric oxide and inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind’, citing Dylan’s hit 1963 protest song.

They were soon followed by two other scientists, Jonas Frisén and Konstantinos Meletis, whose 2003 paper ion neurone was called ‘Blood on the tracks: a simple twist of fate?’

The four men quickly met up and created the bet after noticing each other’s work.

“The one who has written most articles with Dylan quotes, before going into retirement, wins a lunch at the Solna restaurant Jöns Jacob,” Mr Lundberg explained.

A fifth man,  Professor Kenneth Chien, also began quoting the singer in 1997, despite being completely unaware of the Swedish bet.

Since then, there have been a slew of playful Dylan-inspired titles, including ‘Eph receptors tangled up in two’ and ‘Dietary nitrate – a slow train coming’.

“It’s important that the quote is linked to the scientific content, that it reinforces the message and raises the quality of the article as such, not the reverse,” Mr Frisén said.