
{"id":4112,"date":"2023-02-23T02:52:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T02:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/upholding-research-integrity-an-interview-with-joris-van-rossum-on-the-stm-research-integrity-hub\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:21:08","slug":"what-is-the-stm-integrity-hub-and-what-does-it-do-interview-with-joris-van-rossum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-is-the-stm-integrity-hub-and-what-does-it-do-interview-with-joris-van-rossum","title":{"rendered":"Upholding research integrity: An interview with Joris van Rossum on the STM Research Integrity Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span style=\"color:black\">Journals and publishers are the primary checkpoints where scholarly work is vetted before it becomes published record. Traditionally, they tend to work independently of one another in their efforts to identify and prevent fraudulent work from being published. The STM Integrity Hub\u2014launched in April 2022\u2014is an initiative that brings together publishers of all types in an effort to combat some of the biggest emerging threats to publication integrity.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span style=\"color:black\">In this interview, I ask Joris van Rossum (<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">Product Director, STM) how the hub came into being, what it has been doing so far, and what it hopes to achieve. Joris worked for several leading companies and organizations across the publishing space, including Digital Science and Elsevier, where he initiated and led a variety of important innovations and cross-publisher initiatives within the research and publishing ecosystem. He currently works at STM, where he is the Program Director for the STM Research Integrity Hub. Joris holds a master\u2019s degree in biology and a PhD in philosophy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">What led to the establishment of the STM Integrity Hub?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span style=\"color:black\">While the vast majority of researchers take the utmost care to follow good research practices to ensure the integrity of their work<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">, misconduct does happen. In recent years, publishers have seen an increase <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">in<span style=\"color:black\"> papers submitted with integrity issues. This varies from manuscripts with manipulated images, plagiarism, or fabricated data. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">We have also seen the emergence of paper mills, illegitimate commercial companies that <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">fabricate <span style=\"color:black\">manuscripts and offer these for sale. <\/span>T<span style=\"color:black\">he latter in particular has become a significant challenge for <\/span>scholarly communications<span style=\"color:black\">. Together with COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics, STM <\/span>published<span style=\"color:black\"> a report about <\/span>paper mills<span style=\"color:black\"> last year, which is <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/publicationethics.org\/node\/55256\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\"><span style=\"color:blue\">freely downloadable<\/span><\/span><\/a><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">. We are also <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">seeing<span style=\"color:black\"> an increase <\/span>in<span style=\"color:black\"> the use of technology by bad actors like paper mills. We expect<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">that <\/span>ChatGPT will<span style=\"color:black\"> make the creation of fake papers much easier, and AI techniques can also be used to fake images and data.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">To address t<span style=\"color:black\">hese challenges<\/span> through a broad collaboration of publishers and other parties active in scholarly communications, <span style=\"color:black\">STM launched the Integrity Hub last year. Through a combination of shared data and experiences, and by harnessing technological innovation, the STM Integrity Hub offers a holistic approach to detect fraudulent manuscripts. The expectation is that through <\/span>these efforts<span style=\"color:black\">, publishers <\/span>will be able to<span style=\"color:black\"> effectively and efficiently <\/span>reduce the <span style=\"color:black\">volume of materials entering the scholarly <\/span>record <span style=\"color:black\">that violate accepted research integrity<\/span> norms.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">Who does the hub currently comprise of?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">The STM Integrity Hub was launched by STM Solutions, the operational arm of STM (STM is the global association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"> and has<span style=\"color:black\"> more than 140 members). <\/span>More than <span style=\"color:black\">60 people from 20 plus publishing organi<\/span>sations <span style=\"color:black\">are currently participating in the initiative through membership <\/span>in<span style=\"color:black\"> one of the various working groups. <\/span>These groups each focus on <span style=\"color:black\">specific challenges such as <\/span>p<span style=\"color:black\">aper <\/span>m<span style=\"color:black\">ills or image manipulation. We also work <\/span>closely<span style=\"color:black\"> with other organizations, such as providers of manuscript submission software, and of course COPE.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">Could you talk about the key areas of work the hub has been focusing on and any important findings that have emerged from the analyses performed so far?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">We are currently focusing on three areas: image manipulation and duplication, <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">paper mills<span style=\"color:black\">, and duplicate submissions. In each of these areas, a <\/span>working group with experts from STM member organisations share their expertise and discuss how the STM Integrity Hub can best support them \u2013 which could be in a number of ways, ranging from knowledge and insight sharing to developing training material to developing technology infrastructure.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">With regard to image manipulation and duplication, we are developing a whole <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">collection<span style=\"color:black\"> of <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stm-assoc.org\/standards-technology\/working-group-on-image-alterations-and-duplications\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\"><span style=\"color:blue\">instructional material<\/span><\/span><\/a><u><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:blue\">s<\/span><\/span><\/u><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">, such as videos for editors and information about screening tools. With regard to <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">paper mills<span style=\"color:black\"> and duplicate submissions, we are developing tools that publishers and their editorial boards can use to screen <\/span>incoming manuscripts for various kinds of manipulation<span style=\"color:black\">. These tools we are <\/span>developing<span style=\"color:black\"> will flag papers that look suspicious (for example, because they <\/span>appear<span style=\"color:black\"> machine-generated or contain language <\/span>previously<span style=\"color:black\"> used by papers mills), after which the editor can investigate the case further. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">Our main finding so far is that <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">paper mills<span style=\"color:black\"> keep adapting themselves<\/span>. This means <span style=\"color:black\">we <\/span>must also be adaptive and agile<span style=\"color:black\">, which is best done by working together to bundle expertise and resources. And <\/span>t<span style=\"color:black\">his is the main reason <\/span>why <span style=\"color:black\">we launched the STM Integrity Hub!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">In the launch webinar, you discussed the prototype of a tool being tested, which is expected to be released in this quarter. Could you briefly describe what this tool does?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">The duplicate submissions tool will be connected to <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">publishers\u2019 <span style=\"color:black\">submission systems<\/span>. <span style=\"color:black\">Once a paper gets submitted, <\/span>metadata and other elements from the manuscript are sent to an independent, <span style=\"color:black\">cloud-based environment where they can be checked against <\/span>manuscripts <span style=\"color:black\">submitted to other journals, including from other publishers. When there is a match on similarity, a signal is sen<\/span>t<span style=\"color:black\"> to both editors so they can investigate further, and reject the paper if necessary. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">The Paper Mill Checker tool <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">will <span style=\"color:black\">screen incoming papers with several tools, both inhouse and externally developed. They check <\/span>aspects <span style=\"color:black\">like <\/span>the paper\u2019s <span style=\"color:black\">language <\/span>and<span style=\"color:black\"> the use of references<\/span>. And new signals will be added over time. If something suspicious is detected<span style=\"color:black\">, the editor is presented with a flag and can investigate further<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">T<span style=\"color:black\">his is an important principle of the Hub \u2013 humans will <\/span>always <span style=\"color:black\">make the final editorial decision<\/span>. T<span style=\"color:black\">he technology is merely designed to assist them in <\/span>an efficient and effective manner.<span style=\"color:black\"> Naturally, we ensure that these tools<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">fully respect the laws and ethics of data privacy. <\/span>T<span style=\"color:black\">hese tools will<\/span> be made available to an increasing number of<span style=\"color:black\"> publishers <\/span>over time, with the intention that they<span style=\"color:black\"> will become widely used across<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">journals and scholarly publishers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">Both the volume of research produced and the scale of problems threatening research\/publication integrity have been continuously increasing. In addition, new threats will keep emerging as technology evolves and makes misconduct easier and detection difficult. How does the hub aim to respond to such a dynamic situation sustainably, especially since it relies on active sharing of data\/intelligence, pooling of content for trials to develop AI tools, and collaborative innovation?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">Good questions, and I referred to it above already. The <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">mission <span style=\"color:black\">of the Hub is not just to develop tools, but also to exchange information, intelligence and data, and develop policies that can be rolled out across journals and publishers. With that aim, we hold regular meetings. As you said, it is a very dynamic environment! We are also keen to <\/span>connect<span style=\"color:black\"> with companies that have developed tools<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">which would complement those developed by the Hub. We are also currently working with several external companies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">Have you gained any insights on what might help address these problems at the root, in terms of what drives the adoption of unethical or questionable research practices?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">That is also a very good point. Publishers play an important role in the detection of integrity issues and preventing these manuscripts <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">from entering<span style=\"color:black\"> the scholarly record. But<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">it is the responsibility of the entire scholarly ecosystem \u2013 including publishers but also funders, institutions, and of course researchers themselves \u2013 to tackle these issues and their root causes together.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">The <\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">underlying cause <span style=\"color:black\">can be <\/span>a lack of knowledge. W<span style=\"color:black\">e have experienced that some researchers <\/span>have<span style=\"color:black\"> not received proper training on what is allowe<\/span>d, <span style=\"color:black\">so education and training in research integrity is very important<\/span>. In other cases, the underlying cause is<span style=\"color:black\"> overreliance on singular metrics and <\/span>excessive<span style=\"color:black\"> pressure to publish a certain number of papers, which can make it very tempting to use a paper mill! <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">T<span style=\"color:black\">hese kinds of challenges require a unified approach, a collaboration with all stakeholders. At STM, we are working on promoting this dialogue amongst others by organizing conferences <\/span>that bring together a variety<span style=\"color:black\"> of stakeholders.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:#0070c0\">What is your vision for what the Hub can achieve in the next 5 years?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\" style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color:black\">The most ideal scenario would be if the<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">re were no longer a need for the <span style=\"color:black\">Hub, as we would have managed to eradicate all misconduct! But that is of course<\/span> overly optimistic<span style=\"color:black\">. In any case, we do hope to have eliminated<\/span> large-scale illegal activities such as those of paper mills<span style=\"color:black\">. We <\/span>think<span style=\"color:black\"> this is achievable by joining forces as publishers through the Hub, <\/span>and<span style=\"color:black\"> also <\/span>through<span style=\"color:black\"> collaboration with the wider scholarly ecosystem. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">Our focus is on enabling the recognition of <span style=\"color:black\">misconduct at the moment of submission, preventing these papers from ever entering the scholarly record. Retractions cost a lot of time and energy, and lead to an erosion of trust in science.\u00a0 <\/span>P<span style=\"color:black\">ublishing has historically been based on trust and this has worked very effectively for decades \u2013 and for the vast majority, it still does. While we work to address the technical aspects of thwarting these relatively new<\/span> <span style=\"color:black\">challenges to the s<\/span>ystem<span style=\"color:black\">, we want to be careful to ensure that we are at the same time not unintentionally increasing the barriers of entry for legitimate authors \u2013 regardless of their<\/span> background, field of research, or geography.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">Thank you, Joris! It has been really interesting to learn about the work the Hub is doing, and I hope that it will soon see success in the elimination of fraudulent publication practices.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"border:none; margin-top:12.0pt; margin:0cm\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">Learn more about the STM Integrity Hub <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stm-assoc.org\/stm-integrity-hub\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">here<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Journals and publishers are the primary checkpoints where scholarly work is vetted before it becomes published record. Traditionally, they tend to work independently of one another in their efforts to identify and prevent fraudulent work from being published. The STM Integrity Hub\u2014launched in April 2022\u2014is an initiative that brings together publishers of all types in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2401,2418],"tags":[2581,532],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-4112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-opinion","category-research-ethics","tag-ethics-of-research","tag-interview"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Upholding research integrity: An interview with Joris van Rossum on the STM Research Integrity Hub | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a conversation 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