stmassoc, Author at STM Association

Integrity Hub continues to gain momentum with inclusion of PubPeer database in screening tool

September 21, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

STM Solutions and PubPeer are pleased to announce the integration of the PubPeer database with the STM Integrity Hub. This newest collaboration continues to strengthen the Hub’s ability to identify potentially deceptive manuscripts upon submission, and comes directly on the heels of another integration announced earlier this month. Designed by STM Solutions, the Hub represents a pooling of new and existing technology, policy, insights, and best practices to further safeguard research integrity.

PubPeer is a website where users can discuss and review scientific research post-publication. The integration with the STM Integrity Hub allows users to check if references listed in submitted manuscripts concern articles that have received comments in PubPeer or were marked as retracted, an important indicator of quality and a possible indication of integrity issues.

Brandon Stell, president of the PubPeer Foundation said, “We are pleased to work with STM to make the expert commentary of the PubPeer community available to a broad consortium of publishers and look forward to developing our collaboration.”

The STM Integrity Hub is a collaborative effort led by STM Solutions to equip the scholarly communication community with data, intelligence, and technology to protect research integrity. As part of this mission, the program is developing and making available technology for publishers to detect potential breaches of research integrity as soon as possible after a manuscript has been submitted for publication.

It has been roughly six months since the Hub launched a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of its first application: a paper mill checker tool designed to identify manuscripts created by so-called paper mills. It is currently in use by several publishers. Building on this momentum, the Clear Skies Papermill Alarm Public tool was integrated into this paper mill checker tool earlier this month, a development complemented with the addition of the PubPeer database.

“In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of important tools and databases developed by the academic community that can support publishers in identifying problematic submissions. Integrating these in the paper mill checker tool is part of the mission of the STM Integrity Hub, and we are excited to collaborate with this important initiative,” said Joris van Rossum, Product Director of the STM Integrity Hub.

Global Publishing and Journalism Organizations Unite to Release Comprehensive Global Principles for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

September 6, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

Today, STM joins 26 organizations representing thousands of creative professionals around the world, including the academic publishing sector, news, entertainment, magazine, and book publishing companies released Global Principles for Artificial Intelligence (AI). A first of their kind, these pioneering Global Principles provide guidance for the development, deployment, and regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and applications to ensure business opportunities and innovation can thrive within an ethical and accountable framework. The Global Principles for AI are aimed at ensuring publishers’ continued ability to create and disseminate quality content, while facilitating innovation and the responsible development of trustworthy AI systems.

Addressing critical dimensions relating to intellectual property, transparency, accountability, quality and integrity, fairness, safety, design, and sustainable development, the Global Principles on AI mark an unprecedented collaboration that safeguards the interests of content creators, publishers, and consumers alike.

In the Principles, the organizations call for the responsible development and deployment of AI systems and applications, stating that these new tools must only be developed in accordance with established principles and laws that protect publishers’ intellectual property, brands, consumer relationships, and investments. The Principles state explicitly that AI systems’ “indiscriminate misappropriation of our intellectual property is unethical, harmful, and an infringement of our protected rights.”

Among other things, the Global AI Principles stipulate that developers, operators, and deployers of AI systems should:

Respect intellectual property rights protecting the organizations’ investments in original content.
Leverage efficient licensing models that can facilitate innovation through training of trustworthy and high-quality AI systems.
Provide granular transparency to allow publishers to enforce their rights where their content is included in training datasets.
Clearly attribute content to the original publishers of the content.
Recognise publishers’ invaluable role in generating high-quality content for training, surfacing and synthesising.
Comply with competition laws and principles and ensure that AI models are not used for anti-competitive purposes.
Promote trusted and reliable sources of information and ensure that AI generated content is accurate, correct and complete.
Not misrepresent original works.
Respect the privacy of users that interact with them and fully disclose the use of their personal data in AI system design, training, and use.
Align with human values and operate in accordance with global laws.

The full Global Principles for AI, which can be found here, elaborate on each of the points above in greater detail.

Organizations signing onto the Global AI Principles include:

AMI – Colombian News Media Association
Asociación de Entidades Periodísticas Argentinas (Adepa)
Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers
Associação Nacional de Jornais (Brazilian Newspaper Association) (ANJ)
Czech Publishers’ Association
Danish Media Association
Digital Content Next
European Magazine Media Association
European Newspaper Publishers’ Association
European Publishers Council
FIPP
Grupo de Diarios América
Inter American Press Association
Korean Association of Newspapers
Magyar Lapkiadók Egyesülete (Hungarian Publishers’ Association)
NDP Nieuwsmedia
News/Media Alliance
News Media Association
News Media Canada
News Media Europe
News Media Finland
News Publishers’ Association
Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association)
Professional Publishers Association
STM
World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

The Principles are open to future signatories.

STM Integrity Hub incorporates Clear Skies’ Papermill Alarm screening tool

September 1, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

STM Solutions and Clear Skies are pleased to announce the integration of the Clear Skies Papermill Alarm with the STM Integrity Hub. This integration further strengthens the Hub’s capability to pinpoint potentially fraudulent manuscripts at the time of submission. Designed by STM Solutions, the Hub represents a pooling of new and existing technology, policy, and best practices to further safeguard research integrity.

The Clear Skies Papermill Alarm is a tool that offers a straightforward traffic-light rating system for research papers. A red alert indicates a high-similarity to known papermill-product content, an orange alert suggests a moderate similarity, and a green rating indicates no resemblance to such papers. The Papermill Alarm ratings help publishers direct limited resources to the papers that warrant it. The integration with the STM Integrity Hub pertains to the ‘Public’ version of the Papermill Alarm tool, which was launched in 2022 and is optimized for the general area of cancer research.

The STM Integrity Hub is a collaborative effort, led by STM Solutions, to equip the scholarly communication community with data, intelligence, and technology to protect research integrity. As part of this mission, the program is developing and making available technology for publishers to detect potential breaches of research integrity as soon as possible after a manuscript has been submitted for publication.

Earlier this year, the Hub released its first application — a tool to detect manuscripts that are fabricated by so-called paper mills. A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was announced in April, and is currently in use by several publishers. The Clear Skies Papermill Alarm Public tool has now been integrated into this paper mill detection tool on a strictly opt-in basis, offering participating publishers the option to benefit from a greater array of indicators to determine if a submitted manuscript is suspicious and requires further investigation. “Through integrations with tools developed by third parties such as Clear Skies, we are simplifying the workflow for publishers, and – by combining signals – we are improving the accuracy and precision of detecting fraudulent submissions, said Hylke Koers, CIO of STM Solutions. “We see this as a way to support and accelerate the development of Research Integrity screening technology by other service providers to the benefit of the entire sector.”

Adam Day, director of Clear Skies, commented: “We are delighted to be working with STM Solutions. This collaboration helps put our technology in the hands of publishers where it prevents research fraud from entering the peer-review system”.

Research4Life & STM support Ukrainian science and research during conflict

August 24, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine recently expressed its gratitude to STM’s publisher partners for allowing free access to over 42,000 peer-reviewed journals, 174,000 e-books, and 155 databases through the Research4Life program. In 2022, R4L publishers granted Ukrainian institutions free access under the Group A category of Research4Life. In a letter, the Temporary Acting Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Yevhen Kudriavets, described how Research4Life’s support became a lifeline for Ukrainian scientists by symbolizing resilience and allowing vital research to continue amid the uncertainty of war.

“Under such difficult conditions, free access to electronic resources of scientific information is especially important for Ukrainian scientists,” Kudriavets wrote. “Maintaining such access will help them to continue effectively their scientific activities. That is why we will be grateful to the Research4Life Partner Publishers for maintaining access for Ukrainian scientists to the electronic resources of scientific information provided on the Research4Life platform during 2023 and 2024.”

Research4Life continues to look for ways to support Ukraine during this time of conflict. In addition to extending Ukraine’s free access to Research4Life through 2024, the partnership also explores opportunities such as translating massive online open courses (MOOCs) into Ukrainian and supporting publishers who waive processing fees for open access, marking a resilient path forward for Ukraine’s researchers amid ongoing adversity. Ukraine has also strengthened its local research community by joining the Research4Life Country Connectors Network, made up of local library representatives who foster a community of evidence users.

Since its founding in 2001, Research4Life has become a driving force for equality in research publishing by providing access to free and low-cost academic content and training in information literacy and research communication. It fosters inclusion and equity through partnerships with UN agencies, universities, and over 200 publisher partners. The collaboration’s reach extends to 11,000 institutions across 125 countries, fueled by volunteer efforts and initiatives like Friends of Research4Life.

Peer Review Terminology Standardization

August 21, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

[Cross-posted from NISO.org, July 2023]

Peer review is the process of evaluating academic, scientific, or professional work. It is ubiquitously used by academic journals to support research integrity by filtering out invalid or poor-quality articles, as well as to ensure that research outcomes are exposed to relevant audiences through their publication in relevant journals. As such, it is a crucial process in scholarly communication and a pillar of the scientific method.

Over recent decades, a significant number of new peer review models have been introduced (most notably for open review), but they have not been accompanied by the development of a clear and consistent nomenclature, leading to confusion. There is also increased support for more openness and transparency in science and research, including peer review, in order to maintain trust in the scholarly ecosystem.

Against this background, in 2019, STM (the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers) recognized the need to support the community in ensuring greater transparency and openness in peer review, which is an essential element of open research. This support includes harmonizing and better communicating definitions of discrete elements of these processes, so that members of the community—whether they be authors, reviewers, editors or readers—can quickly and easily recognize how to more productively participate in the creation and qualification of scholarly content.

Learn more here.

STM welcomes Leila Jones

August 15, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

Leila Jones joins STM today as Director of Strategic Programmes. In this newly created role, Leila will facilitate the delivery of STM’s strategy by overseeing, coordinating, and tracking projects and initiatives across STM’s core strategic pillars. Leila will be collaborating with the STM Board, committee members, and STM staff across functions, as well as external stakeholders.

Prior to joining STM, Leila spent the last 12 years working for Taylor & Francis, where she held various Editorial and Operational roles. Since 2019, she has been the Director of Operational Excellence at Taylor & Francis, where she used her continuous improvement and project management skills to drive operational efficiencies and successfully launch and lead a new team. Leila has more than 20 years of experience in the scholarly publishing industry and has also held positions at Blackwell Publishing, Elsevier, Nature Publishing Group, and Wiley.

“I am delighted to be joining STM at such an exciting time for the association and look forward to applying my skills and experience to make a difference for scholarly communications globally,” she said.

Country Connectors Transform R4L’s Purpose

August 2, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

A challenge we face at Research4Life (R4L) is how to more deeply enable access to research across lower income countries to ensure greater participation in the global research community: from access, to publishing, and knowledge exchange. R4L enables 11,000 institutions in 125 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe to have free (or close to free) access to a ‘Harvard style’ library of content, yet usage remains relatively low.

Hosted by the National Academy of Sciences last week, we heard about the impressive work of our R4L ‘Country Connectors’ – library representatives from the Republic of Tanzania, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Bhutan and Ghana. Start up funding has been provided by the Elsevier Foundation, recently joined by Springer. Led by Blessing Mawire, our team is building a community of evidence users in country, assisting with researcher and librarian training, understanding blockers to access, routes to publishing and taking action. By 2024 we will have 15 Country Connectors including the State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine with support from the Ministry of Education & Science.

The power of local community building is clear: to engage with lapsed institutions, to aid password to IP transition, to set up new access in smaller institutions, to run writing-up workshops, deliver subject-based research skills training. The longer term goal is to develop an ambassador network to future-proof the Connector model, working successfully in Kenya. Many of our Connectors are setting up WhatsApp groups to engage with user queries and communicate training, but equally they are building south-south collaborations — for example, Tanzania and Bhutan sharing repository set-up knowledge. Opportunities to stimulate local publishing are kicking off too with publisher workshops assessing local needs in Ghana and Tanzania.

Working in a home office environment means you can sometimes miss the deeper level of connection to your work. Meeting everyone last week was a wonderful reminder that R4L is doing work rich with meaning and purpose. We’d love more publishers to get involved beyond your generous donation of content. Contact Sarah@stm-assoc.org.

STM R4L DC July 2023

STM joins Year of Open Science

July 10, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

In accordance with STM’s mission to advance credible and accessible research, STM has joined a coalition of US federal agencies, organizations, and universities in supporting the Year of Open Science and NASA’s Transform to Open Science initiative.

As a part of the coalition, STM and other member organizations commit to transforming the culture of science to emphasize openness and inclusion in research.

“The Year of Open Science is a great way to catalyze action to ensure that validated, quality articles reporting on the latest discoveries are available widely to help society, linked to related data and other outputs,” said STM CEO Caroline Sutton.

“STM and its members have been key partners with stakeholders, including federal agencies, to provide access to high quality, validated information that advances innovation. Through the Year of Open Science, STM looks forward to opportunities to work with federal agencies to enable sharing in a supported, sustainable manner.”

STM cited four key commitments to this initiative. The commitments include supporting sustainable pathways to open access in collaboration with federal agencies and other stakeholders, continuing work to protect the integrity and trust of the open scholarly record, improving research data sharing through STM’s Research Data initiative, and mapping the open research infrastructure to identify gaps and seek opportunities to improve linking and discoverability.

Learn more about STM’s statements of commitment to open science.

STM in China | June 2023

July 1, 2023October 15, 2024 by stmassoc

Where in the world is Caroline?

This June, Caroline Sutton, STM’s CEO, journeyed to China for two conferences, meetings and discussions around the ways we can best advance trusted research around the globe. Here, she lends a quick summary from the (windy!) Great Wall.

After a three-year pause due to the pandemic, the Beijing International Book Fair recommenced its in-person exhibition on 15-18 June. Here, Caroline joined several other senior STM publishers at the Gala and delivered opening remarks at the first PubTech Conference, a satellite event.

She also joined a panel to discuss “The future of publishing driven by AI”, alongside Springer Nature’s Henning Schoenenberger. Several other individuals representing STM member publishers were also involved.

Whilst in Beijing, Caroline met with STM’s China Chapter to share information on STM’s strategies, the OA Dashboard, global activities, and other recent developments — and opened the floor for discussion and conversation with STM members. It was an opportunity to thank outgoing Chair Ella Chen and welcome onboard our new China Chapter Chair Ms. Xiaoling Kang.

As part of the Forum for World STM Journals, the STM China Chapter invited members and Chinese stakeholders to attend an STM introduction event. Here, Caroline shared an overview of STM, STM Trends 2027 and its upcoming Frankfurt Conference. Participants to this event included Ms. Su Wang, CAST Journal Publishing Director, Mr. Tieming Zhang, president of the Society of China University Journals, and dozens of local publishers and stakeholders.

From Beijing, Caroline journeyed to Xi’an, capital of north-western Shaanxi province, to help open the 6th Forum of World STM Journals, organized by CAST (China Association for Science and Technology), from 18th to 20th of June. This year Caroline was one of the two vice chairs of the Academic Committee of the Forum. (The chair is Prof. Wei Yang, former president of Zhejiang University, former president of NSFC). On the eve before the conference, Caroline joined the Open Science Promotion Consortium meeting as a Director of the Advisory Board. STM’s members are well represented among the membership of OSPC.