The STM Integrity Hub is, says BMJ, a potentially powerful platform being built to detect integrity issues in manuscripts submitted for publication to scholarly journals.
BMJ joins the initiative as a participating publisher alongside more than 15 leading publishers, including SAGE, Oxford University Press, Wiley, and Elsevier. Representatives from BMJ are currently part of the collaboration group looking at Image Manipulation Detection, and play a key role on the Governance board for the project.
STM Solutions, the operational arm of STM (The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers), will house the STM Integrity Hub. Through a combination of shared data and experiences and harnessing technological innovation, the Hub will offer a holistic approach to detecting manuscripts offending research integrity principles.
According to the BMJ, it provides a cloud-based environment for publishers to check submitted articles for research integrity issues, the technology will be supported by current industry best practices, and fully respects the laws and ethics of data privacy and competition / anti-trust laws.
In this environment, publishers may collaborate with other parties of their choosing to develop and operate screening tools for the benefit of the entire scholarly ecosystem.
“One of the aims of the collaboration hub is to ‘spark and sustain collaboration,’ is a great message. There is a limit to what any publisher can achieve alone in the fight against unreliable or counterfeit science. It is essential that we work together to uphold the integrity of the scientific record. The collaboration hub is a promising step in the right direction,” says Simone Ragavooloo, Research Integrity Manager, BMJ.
Ian Mulvany, Chief Technology Officer, BMJ, adds: “At BMJ, we are excited to help facilitate knowledge exchange by helping to develop a reliable think tank for publishers to safeguard research integrity in science. This living library of infrastructure and tools harnesses technological innovation to offer a holistic approach to detect research-integrity-offending manuscripts.”
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
