Publishing with Integrity

Most publishers require authors to declare the use of AI, which is stated as part of the article. Yet publishers may already be using AI throughout editorial and publication workflows, often with little or no disclosure, certainly not at the level of an individual article. ...

Self-citation is not automatically unethical. In many cases, it is necessary and academically appropriate. However, once citations become tied to promotion, funding, rankings and reputation, incentives inevitably emerge. Researchers begin learning how the system works and, in some cases, how it can be optimised. This ...

Artificial intelligence is often presented as a new threat to academic publishing. This framing is too simplistic. The real issue is not the technology itself, but the system in which it operates. This newsletter edition explores how AI is exploiting existing weaknesses in scholarly publishing, ...

Scholarly publishing is often presented as the communication of knowledge. Yet many of the issues discussed in recent years, including paper mills and citation manipulation, suggest a different reality. This edition brings those strands together into a single argument. The modern publishing system is not ...

Universities place a strong emphasis on research output when assessing performance, promotion and reputation. Publication counts, journal rankings and citation metrics are often used as proxies for quality and impact. These measures are not inherently flawed, but they shape behaviour in powerful ways. This edition ...

Where can I find a reliable list of predatory journals? It is one of the most common questions researchers ask. For several years, Jeffrey Beall’s list appeared to provide the answer. Universities recommended it, librarians cited it and researchers relied on it before submitting their ...