Taylor & Francis has announced that readers will get earlier notification when there are concerns about the publishing ethics or research integrity of a journal article, through a new online feature. A temporary message will appear on selected papers under investigation, enabling site users to exercise appropriate caution when considering the research presented.
The publisher says the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Research Integrity team investigates hundreds of research articles each year for a range of suspected issues, including data falsification, plagiarism, fake authorship, and paper mills. Taylor & Francis says each investigation is carried out thoroughly, impartially and with care, following Committee on Publishing Ethics guidelines and Taylor & Francis' investigation principles. These investigations necessarily take time, which means it can be several months before any required corrections or retractions are published on the site.
The new ‘under investigation’ alert can now be added to an article during that process, when there are significant concerns about the academic integrity of an article, added the publisher. This will be particularly valuable in cases with a risk of harm, such as when medical decisions could be made based on the research article under investigation.
Dr Sabina Alam, director of publishing ethics & integrity at Taylor & Francis, explained the benefits of this new feature: “For many years we’ve had the option to add a formal ‘expression of concern’ to an article before an ethics investigation has concluded. However, since these remain on the scholarly record permanently, they can only really be used when an investigation has established very strong grounds for concern, typically several months after we first identify a potential problem.”
Alam added “This new ‘under investigation’ notification will keep readers informed earlier in the process and enable us to remove the message once the investigation has been completed, whatever conclusion it comes to.”
The alert messages will also direct readers to a new guide to the ethics investigation process, including details about expert review, institutional involvement and the opportunities given to authors to respond to concerns. The Publishing Ethics & Research Integrity team’s work is a key priority for Taylor & Francis, investing considerable resources in technology, training and investigation in order to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
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