From: Jo Hutchinson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2024 15:20:25 +0000

*Apologies for cross-posting.*



*Learned Publishing: Volume 37, issue 1, January 2024.*

Login to access the latest version. <https://alpsp.org/member-access>

*"There is no research integrity without innovation. If we do not harness
the power of emerging tools, we may fail in our stewardship of the
scientific record."*



From: “The robot uprising is here: Is scholarly publishing ready?” *Sami
Benchekroun,* Learned Publishing 37(1), 10.1002/leap.1595 (2024).



I’m pleased to announce that the January issue of Learned Publishing (Vol.
37, issue 1) is now available to read. The above quote comes from an
Opinion article in this special issue, which is themed around the
topic *“Digital
innovations and research integrity – opportunities and risks for scholarly
publishing”*. This quote captures the importance of innovation for the
scholarly publishing industry, now more than ever.



Of course, the role and ethics of the use of *artificial intelligence* (AI)
in scholarly research and publishing is at the forefront of many people’s
minds, with the industry having had to move quickly to introduce policies
for the use of AI-assisted tools by authors and reviewers. In their
Original Article, Lund and Naheem examine the AI authorship policies of 300
top academic journals during the period of late-spring 2023. In their
Opinion piece, Kendall and Teixeira da Silva voice concerns around the
potential for the abuse of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT,
particularly as a potential new tool for predatory publishing, and while
pointing out that there are many legitimate ways authors may use LLM-based
tools, it will be important for publishers and academia to have tools to
detect undisclosed use of such tools. Two further opinion pieces discuss
the topic of AI, with Hetzscholdt sounding a note of caution in their
article around the ethical and practical concerns that such tools raise,
and Benchekroun offering a counterpoint in his article by pointing out the
necessity to embrace digital innovation to support research integrity.



*Peer review* is a crucial part of the process of ensuring research
integrity, and two articles in this special issue examine this. In their
Original Article, Kousha and Thelwall provide a literature and software
summary discussing the partial or complete automation of several
publishing-related tasks, including identifying peer reviewers, and
potentially supporting reviewing itself. In their Opinion piece, Calamur
and Ghosh highlight the strain on the peer review system, and discuss a
global survey carried out to gather insights on research integrity and peer
review. They conclude that it is essential for peer review systems to
embrace innovation, including the ethical use of AI, in a process that must
be guided by the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders.



The digitisation of the scholarly record and emergence of innovative tools
has unlocked opportunities not only for how publishing workflows operate,
but also for the way research is published. *Data sharing* is an important
factor in establishing a high level of research integrity, enabling data
transparency and the ability of the wider academic community to scrutinise
findings. In their Original Article, Haak et al. describe the development
of a model for measuring data sharing and reuse that uses text mining of
article methods sections for mentions of research resources, databases, and
repositories as a proxy measurement of data sharing and reuse.



One of the primary concerns relating to the use of AI-based tools in
scholarly publishing is the potential for their misuse by bad actors –
namely, those involved in *predatory publishing*. This issue includes two
Case Studies looking into this further; in the first, Dodgson et al.
describe the outcomes of one journal’s efforts to introduce a process to
discourage authors' use of references from predatory publishers. In the
second, Stockemer and Reidy highlight and provide evidence from their
journal of two types of publishing fraud: fake acceptance letters and
financial fraud. In addition, in their Opinion Piece, Solomon reflects on
the problem of cloned journals, and provides advice for researchers in
recognizing and avoiding these.

Given the very recent impact of tools such as AI and LLMs on our industry,
many of the articles in this issue are opinion-based in nature. It is to be
expected that over the course of this volume of Learned Publishing and
beyond, further research and case studies will be published to help
establish best practices for these exciting but ethically complex emerging
innovations. I look forward with interest to further submissions in this
area and to sharing them with our readers.

*"We need speed. We need integrity. Instead of allowing the role of AI to
stay murky and ambiguous in the publishing process, let's identify the
power of human contributions and the power of machine contributions."*

From: “The robot uprising is here: Is scholarly publishing ready?” Sami
Benchekroun Learned Publishing 37(1), 10.1002/leap.1595 (2024).

ALPSP members: please login to the website to access
<https://alpsp.org/Learned-Publishing>.

SSP members: please login to the member center to access
<https://customer.sspnet.org/Shared_Content/Sign_In_Alt.aspx>.

To avoid missing any future issues, please be sure to sign up
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/doUpdateAlertSettings?action=addJournal&journalCode=17414857>
to
receive an email alert or RSS feed every time a new issue goes online.

­­



Best wishes,

Jo



Jo Hutchinson

Marketing Specialist

Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers

E:* [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>* T: +44 (0)7725 325993

W: *www.alpsp.org* <http://www.alpsp.org/> Follow us on: *X
<https://twitter.com/alpsp>*, *Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/ALPSP.Community>*, *LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/company/4231454>*





[image: University Redux Banner]
<https://alpsp.cventevents.com/ydwPZ?RefId=email>



ALPSP is a Company limited by guarantee and incorporated in England and
Wales Registration no: 4081634. Registered Office: Egale 1, 80 St Albans
Road, Watford WD17 1DL UK