EU Parliament event on research integrity highlights collective responsibility

On 10 June, the European Parliament’s STOA panel (on the future of science and technology) held a session highlighting AI, system-level misaligned incentives, and research culture as key factors behind the rise in research integrity issues. Several speakers encouraged a focus on the reasons motivating misconduct rather than on post-fact enforcement, although the importance of provenance and disclosure infrastructure was also raised. An audience question addressed the critical role of publishers in guaranteeing integrity, and STM pointed to collaboration — both between publishers through the STM Integrity Hub and with other R&I stakeholders — as the way forward, a point echoed by other speakers. Another question raised was whether focusing on misconduct rather than best practice risks strengthening anti-research voices. Participants agreed that while the work to advance research integrity and reduce misconduct remains important, preserving trust in the scientific record is also a priority. Overall, it’s encouraging to see nuanced conversations on this topic taking place in the EU Parliament.