Solution suggestions
How to address these problems? Suggestions included more people screening for issues already in the literature (like Jennifer Byrne whose team recently identified fake cell lines entering the literature), more research on the scale of the problem (such as from the new voluntary body United2Act), awareness raising for researchers and editors, and pre-screening manuscripts and verifying authenticity of data at an institutional level.
Attendees also advocated for deeper reform of academic publishing and reward models, for slower science (and the publication of fewer papers) and to move away from researchers being judged primarily on the number and type of papers they publish – something many institutions and funders have signed up to, but which still persists in research culture.
Some suggestions to address fraud – such requiring authors to have academic email addresses – could have unintended consequences, as researchers in low- and middle-income countries are often not provided with these. This reflected the ‘world’ part of the conference; funds are provided to support attendance from low- and middle-income countries, and it was encouraging to hear a diverse range of perspectives. A strong case was made that bringing in under-represented voices, making research truly global, representative and fair, is important for all those involved in research.
If we were to zoom out of the specific details of the conference, and try to get an overview, it might look something like: Bring in, Build up, and Keep out.
Bring in diverse and previously excluded voices. Build up good research practices, including for those researchers who are trying their best to act with integrity. Keep out fraudulent research, disinformation and fake data.
This framing might help us determine which kinds of initiatives, driven by which parts of the research community, are most effective and impactful for supporting integrity. WCRI has shown us much of what we have to do, and we have a decent map of the routes. The next step is to get back down to street level and implement some of them.
