What is research integrity?

Research Integrity means conducting research in such a way that allows others to have confidence and trust in the methods and the findings of the research. It relates both to the scientific integrity of conducted research and the professional integrity of researchers.

Key elements of Research Integrity include:

• Honesty: convey information truthfully and honoring commitments
• Rigour: quality of being detailed, careful, and complete
• Accuracy: report findings precisely and take care to avoid errors
• Efficiency: use resources wisely and avoid waste
• Objectivity: let the facts speak for themselves and avoid improper bias
• Transparency and open communication
• The care and respect of all participants
• Accountability

These elements should be present at all stages of research. Research ethics is a key criterion of research integrity.

Why does it matter?

Research findings are used to inform public policy; and treatment of human and animal diseases and to inform future research. As a responsible member of the research community, The University of Edinburgh seeks to produce research of the highest standard. High standards of research integrity and publication ethics are central to our mission as a publisher. Researchers should be confident in trusting that published research has followed best practices and is an honest reflection of the science. As publishers we are dedicated to ensuring that standards of publishing ethics and research integrity are upheld, our processes are working as intended, and that we continuously improve our practices to address new and emerging challenges. We have many teams working on this and these steps range from editorial screening teams to peer review stages with contributions from journal editors and discipline experts.

How do we work to uphold research integrity?

The following outlines the steps in content development and research integrity assurance that each manuscript will undertake during its submission journey. For ease of reading, and to avoid revealing too much to those who may attempt to exploit our workflows, the following is a high-level overview demonstrating our approach to screening submitted manuscripts and upholding research integrity.

Initial Screening
After submission, a paper will first go to our Editorial Screening Team who will undertake the following checks before the manuscript goes to peer review.

Peer Review
Once a manuscript has passed initial screening it will enter peer review. The manuscript will be assigned to a journal editor who will invite peer reviewers to write review reports and provide comments, feedback, and in some cases highlight concerns, as well as share publishing recommendations – to accept or reject.

Peer Review Evaluation
When a manuscript is accepted, a specialized internal team completes an enhanced set of quality checks in addition to the routine post-peer review checks completed for all manuscripts.
These checks are focused on identifying concerning hallmarks of paper mills and peer review manipulation and the team might recommend that the paper receives a new round of peer review or that the editor rejects the paper at this stage.

Manuscript Screening
All manuscripts that proceed past peer review and quality checks will undergo additional screening for red flags, hallmarks of suspicious behavior, or unethical publishing practices. Every paper is then read and evaluated by the specialized internal team before publication.

Post-publication concerns
If concerns are raised about a published article, whether raised by the research community or brought to light by investigations of our Research Integrity team, we will investigate the article. Working with the authors, we may then issue a correction or retract the article.