Identifying conflicts of interest
Undisclosed conflicts of interest cast a shadow over research integrity, sometimes resulting in retractions or even larger scandals that threaten trust in science. When authors fail to share their connections to study participants, funding bodies, and other groups that may influence their work, they create smokescreens that fog up the clarity of science.
But through automated screening alerts, we can create a clear picture of the truth. Products like our Author Submission Checks provide over 14 ways of detecting fraud or mistakes, and offer comprehensive analyses of authorship patterns and collaborations, aiding in the identification of conflicts of interest. These multi-source identity verification checks separate bad actors from future leaders, strengthening peer review and author communities.
Removing obstacles in peer review
By confirming the real identities of authors, societies and publishers can add an extra layer of integrity to the peer review process and confidence to their published work.
For instance, technology that helps verify the identity of authors boosts the efficiency of new models like blind peer review. By verifying the identity of authors while still providing them with anonymity during the review process, these tools discourage bias and make sure the process is focused solely on the research content, while never having to worry about conflicts of interest. On the heels of the news that reviewers award higher marks when a paper’s author is more famous, these tools allow reviewers to provide unbiased evaluations without being influenced by personal relationships, reputation, and more.
By ensuring that authors are who they say they are, supported by unique identifiers like ORCID, it becomes much easier and faster for reviewers to assess scholarly work, helping us move beyond the astonishing 130 million hours or 15,000 years spent on peer review globally in 2020.
Enhancing collaboration
How can your community’s future leaders find the collaborators that will support and improve their science?
Author ID verification ensures that authors are correctly associated with their work, and adding institutional affiliation to this verification also helps build networks. This accuracy represents the core principle of academia and is crucial when it comes to not only boosting transparency for researchers but also helping them find and connect with the right individuals.
Organizations like ORCID have ushered in a new era for scholarly publishing, allowing for persistent identifiers to help academics view others' expertise, affiliations, publication history, and achievements. This allows collaborators to assess each other's qualifications, ensuring that the right expertise is brought to the table, creating transparency and building trust to encourage productive partnerships.
We’re always working to unlock new levels of transparency. Our integration with Ringgold reflects this. Together, we’re exploring and leveraging the power of persistent identifiers to establish consistent research data flow throughout the scholarly publishing ecosystem. Discover more details about our partnership.
Minimizing plagiarism and citation manipulation
As plagiarism continues to damage the scholarly publishing world, threatening integrity and trust, our community needs a transparency upgrade.
Author ID verification prevents plagiarism by making sure credit is given wherever it is due, encouraging better citation practices, tracking collaborations, and integrating with plagiarism detection tools.
By tracking an individual’s academic journey through a distinct digital footprint, tools like our Integrity Checks and persistent identifiers discourage scholarly theft and citation manipulation. By holding the academic community accountable, we pave the way for a future where knowledge thrives and innovation knows no bounds.
Conclusion
We are now facing the biggest integrity crisis in decades. We need to find a way forward.
Let’s seize this opportunity to rewrite the narrative and transcend this crisis, embarking on a journey of transparency. Our Author Submission Checks are helping us make a difference and can help you discover the real identities behind the findings that will drive the world forward.
