A new STM-commissioned report has documented how scholarly publishers are investing in infrastructure to address threats to research integrity.
The report was researched and compiled by Research Consulting, which conducted in-depth interviews with 18 research integrity and publishing experts across 13 organizations. It provides a collective overview of the approaches publishers are using to respond to integrity challenges that have evolved in nature and scaled significantly in recent years.
The report documents capacity building by publishers in recent years. Some publishers now maintain dedicated research integrity teams numbering more than 100 staff members and screen millions of manuscript submissions annually. Screening processes use detection systems that combine technology with human oversight.
The report links this investment to two converging pressures. Global R&D spending has nearly tripled since 2000 to approximately $2.5 trillion annually, contributing to increased research output. At the same time, integrity threats have become more sophisticated, including industrial-scale paper mill operations selling fabricated manuscripts and AI systems capable of generating plausible but false research.
The report identifies three pillars of publisher practice: capacity, including dedicated teams and screening technology; practice, including standards, screening protocols, and training; and coordination, including shared detection tools and infrastructure.
Collaborative initiatives documented in the report include the STM Integrity Hub with 49 organizational members, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) with 106 publisher members representing more than 14,500 journals, and United2Act, a coalition of 58 organizations coordinating responses to paper mills.
The report states that protecting research integrity requires action across the broader research ecosystem, including institutions, funders, policymakers, and researchers.
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