Research Integrity and Peer Review—past highlights and future directions

Abstract

In May 2016, we launched Research Integrity and Peer Review, an international, open access journal with fully open peer review (reviewers are identified on their reports and named reports are published alongside the article) to provide a home for research on research and publication ethics, research reporting, and research on peer review. As the journal enters its third year, we reflect on recent events and highlights for the journal and explore how the journal is faring in terms of gender and diversity in peer review. We also share the particular interests of our Editors-in-Chief regarding models of peer review, reporting quality, common research integrity issues that arise during the publishing process, and how people interact with the published literature. We continue to encourage further research into peer review, research and publication ethics and research reporting, as we believe that all new initiatives should be evidence-based. We also remain open to constructive discussions of the developments in the field that offer new solutions.

Who are the most highly cited forensic scientists in the United States?

“…There is growing evidence that many of these so-called opportunistic journals operate a dubious peer review of submitted article prior to publication [18,19]. The people responsible for these predatory journals seem more interested in making a profit rather than advancing scholarly publishing.…”

Implementation of a responsible conduct of research education program at Duke University School of Medicine

“…Many factors may contribute to ethical transgressions in research. These include individual factors such as an exaggerated sense of entitlement or poor decision-making; institutional factors such as gaps in research oversight and responsiveness to wrongdoing; shortcomings in publication and peer review practices; and, professional stressors such as the pressure to publish, competition for research funding, and efforts to commercialize research (Davis, Riske-Morris, and Diaz 2007;DeMets et al 2017;Edwards and Roy 2017;Boughton et al 2018;Finkel 2019).…”