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…