STM NEWSROOM

Discussions at the R&I Days centred around the next EU funding programme for research (the successor of Horizon Europe), the new European Competitiveness Fund and the many unresolved questions about how their governance will work. A balance between funding for strategic investments, selected top-down, and blue-sky research (mainly funded through the ERC) will need to…

It is almost a cliché to say that AI has changed the academic publishing industry – for authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and publishers themselves. In 2023, STM published guidelines outlining ethical and practical considerations regarding the use of AI tools in the publication process. In the two years since, technology has progressed significantly, creating even more possibilities…

Launched in 2022, the STM Integrity Hub has grown into a collaborative platform that helps publishers safeguard the scholarly record. Today, more than 35 publishers are using the Hub to screen over 125,000 papers each month, intercepting around 1,000 suspected paper-mill submissions per month.  By combining shared tools, community intelligence, and trusted third-party integrations, the…

Are you an innovator — or do you know a tech game-changer that deserves the spotlight? Come closer, there’s an exciting opportunity ahead. STM’s annual Innovator Fair is back, and we’re seeking trailblazers and pioneers developing fresh solutions to transform scholarly communications. This year’s event takes place December 9, 2025, at BMA House in London…

Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices. United2Act was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills. This report…

By Anh Vu Ha, Research Integrity & Peer Review Manager, IWA Publishing In the past decade, research integrity and ethical investigations have become increasingly prevalent, as mass retractions and journal breaches continue to sweep through the publishing industry. Water research was no exception. Unfortunately, ethical breaches are not abstract problems, and they erode the trust…

STM and ISTIC Launch Joint Open Research Fund to Advance Scholarly Integrity and Innovation On September 26, 2024, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Beijing, marking a significant step toward deepening collaboration between…

Guest-edited collections, often published as special issues or themed volumes, curated by experts in a specific field, play an important role in scholarly publishing offering a focused exploration of contemporary topics, emerging trends, or specialised areas of study. However, guest-edited collections have been accompanied by increasing challenges, including coordinated attempts to manipulate the publishing record…

Research communications today face growing, coordinated threats to their integrity—from paper mills and manipulated peer review to systemic pressures that can compromise trust. In response, STM’s Research Integrity Committee has commissioned Research Consulting to map how publishing organisations across the sector are working to safeguard the scholarly record. In recent years, publishers have retracted thousands…

A timely interview with our own Hylke Koers in Retraction Watch highlights STM’s work on strengthening research integrity in scholarly publishing. With fraud and paper mills exploiting gaps in editorial systems, STM has developed a Researcher Identity Verification Framework—a flexible, inclusive approach to help journals and institutions verify researcher identities more reliably. Originally released in…