Research integrity checks: the promise and perils of new tech and how to find a balance

Thursday, 15 May 2025, 9.45am-10.45am

Research integrity checks are imperative to ensuring the reliability and transparency of scholarship. However, in recent years, the volume of technical checks for editors to complete has become overwhelming in many disciplines, from plagiarism detection to figure analysis to papermill scans, and the list goes on. New technologies present opportunities to automate these processes; however, they are imperfect and require human intervention. They can also be cost-prohibitive for small publishers. This session explored steps journals can take to develop research integrity check processes that work within their available time and budgetary resources.

Moderator

Brian Cody

CEO, ScholasticaUnited States

Brian Cody is CEO and Co-Founder of Scholastica, a scholarly publishing technology provider with easy-to-integrate peer review, production, and open access hosting solutions for journal programs of any size. Before starting Scholastica, Brian was doing doctoral work in sociology at the University of Chicago. He is a self-taught programmer and has years of experience designing and implementing technology solutions to help scholarly publishers meet the latest industry standards.

Speakers

Matt Hodgkinson

Head of Editorial, DOAJUnited Kingdom

Matt joined Hindawi in London in 2016 as Head of Research Integrity, overseeing the publication ethics processes and policies and managing the Research Integrity Manager and a team of Research Integrity Specialists. He was Head of Editorial Policy and Ethics from 2020-22. From 2022-24, he worked at the charity UKRIO as a Research Integrity Manager, advising researchers and institutions and managing social media.

Kim Eggleton

Head of Peer Review & Research Integrity, IOP PublishingUnited Kingdom

Kim Eggleton is Head of Peer Review & Research Integrity at IOP Publishing, with responsibility for the company’s ethical policies and procedures. Kim also leads on IOP’s strategy and actions on inclusion and diversity. Kim completed her undergraduate degree in publishing in 2003 then joined Emerald Group Publishing working on A&I products. With experience working for both commercial and not-for-profit publishers, Kim has managed journals and books in humanities and social sciences as well as STM. In 2016 Kim joined IOP Publishing managing one of the in-house peer review teams, beginning her current role in 2019. Kim also has an MSc in International Publishing Management, and an MBA.

Caroline Sutton

CEO, STM

Caroline Sutton is CEO for the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM). Prior to joining STM Caroline served as Director of Open Research for Taylor & Francis. She co-founded Co-Action Publishing, a pioneer in Open Access Publishing and was one of the founders and first President of OASPA where she served on the board between 2008-2021. She has served on numerous boards within the scholarly communications space including the Board of Directors of Dryad (2017-2023), and Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA), the managing organization of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) (2013-2022). Caroline holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

Jane Alfred

Director, Catalyst EditorialUnited Kingdom

Dr Jane Alfred is a professional editor and trainer, and the Director and co-founder of Catalyst Editorial Ltd. As a freelance editor and training consultant, Jane works closely with the life sciences publishing and research communities, and is an advocate for research integrity, ethical editorial practice, responsible research, inclusive peer review, and for research systems that recognise and reward good research practice and promote healthy research cultures. She is an advisory council member of the UK Research Integrity Office, and an Associate Member of COPE.