CWTS part of H2020 COST Action to stimulate integrity and responsible research

Good news came our way recently! Thed van Leeuwen, Paul Wouters and myself will be part of an EC-funded H2020 COST Action on Promoting Integrity as an Integral Dimension of Excellence in Research (PRINTEGER). Main applicants Hub Zwart and Willem Halffman (Radboud University Nijmegen) brought together highly skilled partners for this network from the Free University Brussels, the University of Tartu (Estonia), Oslo and Akershus University College, Leiden University, and the Universities of Bonn, Bristol, and Trento.

The primary goal of the COST Action is to encourage a research culture that treats integrity as an integral part of doing research, instead of an externally driven steering mechanism. Our starting point: in order to stimulate integrity and responsible research, new forms of governance are needed that are firmly grounded in and informed by research practice.

Concretely, the work entailed in the project will consist of A) a systematic review of integrity cultures and practices; B) an analysis and assessment of current challenges, pressures, and opportunities for research integrity in a demanding and rapidly changing research system; and C) the development and testing of tools and policy recommendations enabling key players to effectively address issues of integrity, specifically directed at science policy makers, research managers and future researchers.

CWTS will contribute to the network with

• A bibliometric analysis of ‘traces of fraud’ (e.g. retracted articles, manipulative editorials, non-existent authors and papers, fake journals, bogus conferences, non-existent universities), against the background of general shifts in publication patterns, such as changing co-authoring practices, instruments as authors, or the rise of hyper-productive authors;
• Two in-depth cases studies of research misconduct, not the evident or spectacular, but more particularly reflecting dilemmas and conflicts that occur in grey areas. Every partner will provide two cases; ours will most likely focus on cases of questionable integrity of journal editors (for example cases of impact factor manipulation);
• Act as task leader on formulation of Advice for research support organisations, including on IT tools. This task will draw conclusions from the research on the operation of the research system, specifically publication infrastructures such as journals, libraries, or data repositories;
• Like all other partners in the network, we will set up small local advisory panels consisting of five to ten key stakeholders of the project: research policy makers, research leaders or managers, research support organisations, and early career scientists. These panels will meet for a scoping consultation at the start of the projects, for a halfway consultation to discuss intermediate results and further choices to be made, and for a near-end consultation to test the pertinence of tools and advice at a point where we can still make changes to accommodate for stakeholder input.