A contextualization of editorial misconduct in the library and information science academic information ecosystem

Abstract

In the last decade, one of the most effective tools applied in combating the erosion of public trust in academic research has been an increased level of transparency in the peer review and editorial process. Publicly available publication ethics guidelines and policies are vital in creating a transparent process that prevents unethical research, publication misconduct, manipulation of the communication of research to practitioners, and the erosion of public trust. This study investigated how these unethical practices, specifically those coded as editorial misconduct, bring the authenticity and integrity of the library and information science academic research digital record into question. Employing a multi‐layered approach, including key informant interviews, researchers determined the frequency and the content of ethical publishing policies and procedures in library and information science journals; exploring the ways the lack of, or nonadherence to these policies and procedures impacted library and information science researchers in instances of editorial misconduct.

Personal Conflicts of Interest in the Publishing Enterprise: Focus on Journal Editors

“…An ROI thus becomes a category of COI if they are undeclared. Undeclared editorial COIs, including ROIs, are considered to be a form of misconduct [5].…”

“…If authors are held to such strict and high ethical standards, should editors also not be held to the same, if not higher, ethical standards? Despite this glaringly obvious double standard in academic publishing, why does it seem that editors are offered such "protection" by the publishing establishment [5,12]? One possible reason may be that editors and EICs are precious commodities to journals and publishers, that is, without editors and EICs, publishers have no mechanism to exploit authors, authors' institutes and authors' funding agencies for intellect, subscriptions and APCs.…”

“…Why is it rare, almost impossible, to find editor boards with up-to-date CVs and financial and non-financial COI declarations for their editors? Even though awareness has been raised about this serious double-standard in the publishing industry, even among highly ranked and "respected" status quo journals and publishers [4,5,12,15,16,17], the predominant model continues to be that editors do not carry COI statements alongside their names on a journal's editor board. In contrast, it is not uncommon for authors to have to submit, as a mandatory requirement for submission of a paper to a journal, a COI statement, in several cases using the template provided by the ICMJE.…”