Trends in research integrity concerns and the evolving role of the publisher

Abstract

In an era of increasing research integrity concerns that evolve in form and scale, the role of the scholarly publisher in vetting, safeguarding and investigating content pre- and post-publication has been crystalizing into a core publisher skill set. Investment in tools and training is a critical measure in addressing the concerns, but enhanced collaboration between cross-industry stakeholders is also necessary. At the same time, ‘consumers’ of published scholarly content must be made aware of the trends in research integrity and publishing ethics misconduct so that they are fully equipped to interpret post-publication notices (e.g. retractions), enabling them to make informed decisions on which published content should be built upon to further research as well as advance guidelines and policies.