Perceptions and recommendations about research integrity and publishing ethics: A survey among Chinese researchers on training, challenges and responsibilities
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28 maj 2025
O artykule
Kategoria artykułu: Research Papers
Data publikacji: 28 maj 2025
Zakres stron: 131 - 160
Otrzymano: 15 lis 2024
Przyjęty: 28 kwi 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2025-0031
Słowa kluczowe
© 2025 Sabina Alam et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Assessment of what went wrong in the case described in Table2a, and how each stakeholder can improve collaborations and practices to work towards long-term solutions addressing training needs_
| Stakeholder | Gaps to be addressed | Training content development | Ongoing improvements |
|---|---|---|---|
| The student assumed the role of submitting author without understanding authorship responsibilities. |
Provide feedback to supervisors and institution about areas of confusion regarding authorship, citation practices and working with third-party services. | Provide feedback to librarians and institution about the usefulness of training, including whether the mode of delivery supports learning objectives. | |
| The supervisor needed to guide the student about submission tasks. |
Gather feedback from students and research teams on: Awareness of publishing ethics. Authorship criteria and responsibilities. Citation practices. Third-party manuscript services. |
Provide feedback on training modules developed by the institution and publishers. |
|
| Collate data on recurring areas of concern and inform institution on topics for mandatory training. |
Ensure emerging issues in research integrity are included in training modules and resources. | ||
| The institution did not have established practice to ensure awareness about ethical publication processes including authorship responsibilities and citation practices. |
Provide training and guidance for supervisors about the role in mentoring others through the publication process. |
Monitor training completion and measure successful outcomes (e.g. test scores, surveys). |
|
| Authorship policies, including the responsibilities of submitting, corresponding author and co-authors were not sufficiently clear. |
Training and support for editors on monitoring authorship changes. Key editorial policies. Fundamentals of publishing ethics. Authorship and acknowledgements. Citation practices. Working with ethical third-party services. |
Identify specific disciplines and regions that need support and broaden training and engagement outreach accordingly. |
Recommended roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in ensuring training needs for researchers on research integrity and publishing ethics_
| Stakeholder | Identify training needs | Provide funds for training | Develop training materials | Provide access to training | Deliver training | Undertake training |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| √ | ||||||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | All early career researchers should undertake the required training. | |||||
| √ | √ | |||||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | In addition to undertaking training, experienced researchers should also raise awareness about ongoing training needs. | |||||
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | Research institution staff who have responsibility for supervising, training and overseeing research activities should ensure training needs are identified and included in training materials, and that access to training programmes are provided. They should also complete any required training themselves to ensure they are up-to-date in their knowledge and skills. In some cases, they may also be required to deliver the training. | |||||
| √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | Through their interaction with researchers at all stages, librarians are in a position to identify training needs, and to organise and coordinate training sessions internally as well as with external stakeholders (e.g. publishers). Librarians should also complete any required training themselves to ensure they are up-to-date in their knowledge and skills. | |||||
| √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | At an institutional level, funding and development to address fundamental and ongoing training needs for all relevant parties (students, researchers, staff) should be considered, including the provision of resources to accommodate the different requirements and formats in which training can take place, and uptake of training can be monitored. | |||||
| √ | ||||||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | Funders who provide resources for research should also provide funding for research integrity and publishing ethics training, and to ensure compliance, this should be a condition to be met by applicants/institutions to secure any type of research funding. | |||||
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | As gatekeepers and disseminators of research, journal editors and publishers should ensure training gaps in publishing ethics are identified and addressed in accessible resources for authors, reviewers and editors. Where possible, publishers should also provide comprehensive training programmes to researchers, either via their institutions or via online training sessions. Publishers and editors should also complete any required training themselves to ensure they are up-to-date in their knowledge and skills. Providing publishing ethics training to key stakeholders at institutions via train-the-trainer programmes will ensure that wider and long-term training needs are met. | |||||
| √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Rationale for stakeholder role and responsibility | Neutral organisations such as COPE play a widespread and global role in developing publishing ethics and integrity guidelines as well as education and training materials. They also organise and deliver the training where possible. | |||||
Hypothetical case highlighting concerns about authorship and involvement of an unethical third-party manuscript service_
| Following peer review in a journal, a submission was accepted by the Editor. Shortly after, the journal received a complaint from one of the co-authors (Dr X) stating that they do not recognise two other co-authors (Drs C and D) who appear on the author list. Due to the authorship concerns, the Editor and publisher halted the production process of the paper. The Editor informed Dr X, as per COPE guidelines, that they will reach out to the corresponding author Prof B for an explanation. | |
|---|---|
| The Editor raised these concerns to the research integrity team (RI) at the publisher. Upon checking the submission details, the RI team finds that: The submitting author (Author A) is listed as the first author on the manuscript and is the one who handled all the submission tasks. The corresponding author Prof B is the last author on the authorship list and does not seem to have handled any of the submission tasks. The authorship list was indeed changed on the revised submission despite no significant changes being made to the manuscript, other than the addition of five more references. Drs C and D, who have been added, are from a different institution, even though the study was conducted at a single institution. No explanation was provided for the change in authorship or additional references. Upon closer inspection of the new references, the RI team recognises some of these have also appeared on other submissions that are currently undergoing investigation. Upon discussion with the Editor, it is determined that the additional references are not relevant. |
|
| Author A responded very quickly with the following statements: Drs C and D had contributed to the study but did not provide any further detail. The references are correct, but they did not provide any rationale. |
|
| As the authorship concerns and reference irregularities had not been satisfactorily addressed, the Editor informed Prof B and Author A that they are referring the matter to their institution and their submission has been placed on hold. The Editor promptly sent a summary of the case to the research integrity officer of the institution, asking them to investigate the authorship and reference irregularities, requesting to be kept updated. | |
| A few weeks later, the research integrity officer at the institution replied to confirm: There are concerns about the changes to authorship, which were implemented by Author A. The five new references had been added at revision by Author A. Author A made these changes without realising it must be done in consultation with co-authors. Deal with the submission directly (the student provided their login details to the submission system) Submit the revision to the journal Add any authors who may have a relevant interest in the manuscript Recommend up to five additional references Not allowed to make any changes to content, including references, without consultation and approval from all co-authors. Not allowed to make any authorship changes. Not allowed to handle submission tasks by using the author login details. Required to declare their role as a manuscript/author service provider within the Acknowledgements section (which must also be done in consultation with all co-authors). |
|
| The submission was withdrawn from the journal. In addition, the RI team at the publisher informed the institution of Drs C and D about the authorship misconduct concerns on the submission. The RI team also contacted the manuscript service used by Author A, warning them against their unethical practices, but never received a response. | |