Publishing with Integrity
A weekly newsletter that discusses scholarly research with a strong focus on research integrity
Weekly newsletter | Published on LinkedIn
AI is not the problem. The problem is how we govern it.
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, ...
What is really being traded in academic 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 ...
Do universities reward questionable publishing?
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 ...
Predatory Journals: The list everyone wants but nobody can build
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 ...
The Market for Authorship
Authorship is meant to signal intellectual contribution and responsibility. Yet in parts of the academic publishing ecosystem, authorship is increasingly becoming something else: a tradable commodity. Purchased authorships, ghostwritten manuscripts, honorary authorship and guest authorship practices suggest that the meaning of authorship may be shifting. ...
Why paper mills exist
Paper mills are one of the biggest challenges facing scholarly publishing. But rather than simply trying to detect paper mill articles, we should also ask a more fundamental question: why does a global market for manufactured research papers exist in the first place? This edition ...