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Category: Project

Description: An STM Working Group on Image Alteration and Duplication Detection has been working on best-practice recommendations that outline a structured approach to support editors and others applying image integrity screening as part of pre-publication quality control checks or post-publication investigation of image and data integrity issues at scholarly journals, books, preprint servers, or data repositories. It provides principles and a three-tier classification for different types of image and data aberrations commonly detected in image integrity screens of figures in research papers and for a consideration of impact on the scholarly study; it also recommends actions journal editors may take to protect the scholarly record. With these recommendations, the STM Working Group aims to contribute a consistent, structured and efficient framework for handling image integrity issues both within and between journals and publishers. The framework should support editors in safeguarding research integrity and fortifying the scientific process for the benefit of the scientific community. The recommendations are open for comments until October 31st. The final recommendations, in which we will attempt to process all suggestions and recommendation, will be presented at the STM Innovations Seminar on December 7th. To comment on the document, please register and use the 'comment' icon on the top right of your screen, or send your comments to rossum@stm-assoc.org.