Category: publishing ethics

Making retraction data freely accessible – Why Crossref’s acquisition of the Retraction Watch database is a big step forward

Since its launch Retraction Watch has done much to highlight the value of research integrity and publishing standards. Discussing the recent acquisition by Crossref of Retraction Watch’s database of retracted articles, Ivan Oransky and Rachael Lammey h…

Pandemic publishing: rethinking editorial ethics during COVID

Researchers need to observe ethical standards during a pandemic, say Ben Kasstan,Rishita Nandagiri and Siyane Aniley, and journals should hold them to these standards. The pandemic has changed academic research. It has led to gender gaps in authorship,…

Can standardised courses in research ethics prevent publication misconduct?

The Indian University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced a number of policies aimed at addressing issues around the robustness and quality of Indian research. One focus of these policies has been the introduction of mandatory publishing ethics trai…

Without stronger ethical standards, predatory publishing will continue to be a permanent feature of scholarly communication

Predatory publishing has been the subject of much heated debate and conjecture. Panagiotis Tsigaris and Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva, argue that predatory publishing still remains under-scrutinized, enigmatic and in need of effective collective solutions. Without clearer and stronger ethical standards in scholarly publishing, they argue that responses to predatory publishing will continue to be … Continued

Self-plagiarism: When is re-purposing text ethically justifiable?

Self-plagiarism, or publishing substantially similar work twice, is frowned upon in academia as a way of gaining an unfair advantage in a competitive ‘publish or perish’ environment. However, the increasingly open and digital nature of academic publishing means that replication is now easier than ever before. In this post, Mark Israel explores the ethics of self-plagiarism and asks, when is it right […]