Integrity Hub continues to gain momentum with inclusion of PubPeer database in screening tool

STM Solutions and PubPeer are pleased to announce the integration of the PubPeer database with the STM Integrity Hub. This newest collaboration continues to strengthen the Hub's ability to identify potentially deceptive manuscripts upon submission, and comes directly on the heels of another integration announced earlier this month. Designed by STM Solutions, the Hub represents a pooling of new and existing technology, policy, insights, and best practices to further safeguard research integrity.

PubPeer is a website where users can discuss and review scientific research post-publication. The integration with the STM Integrity Hub allows users to check if references listed in submitted manuscripts concern articles that have received comments in PubPeer or were marked as retracted, an important indicator of quality and a possible indication of integrity issues. 

Brandon Stell, president of the PubPeer Foundation said, "We are pleased to work with STM to make the expert commentary of the PubPeer community available to a broad consortium of publishers and look forward to developing our collaboration."

The STM Integrity Hub is a collaborative effort led by STM Solutions to equip the scholarly communication community with data, intelligence, and technology to protect research integrity. As part of this mission, the program is developing and making available technology for publishers to detect potential breaches of research integrity as soon as possible after a manuscript has been submitted for publication. 

It has been roughly six months since the Hub launched a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of its first application: a paper mill checker tool designed to identify manuscripts created by so-called paper mills. It is currently in use by several publishers. Building on this momentum, the Clear Skies Papermill Alarm Public tool was integrated into this paper mill checker tool earlier this month, a development complemented with the addition of the PubPeer database. 

“In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of important tools and databases developed by the academic community that can support publishers in identifying problematic submissions. Integrating these in the paper mill checker tool is part of the mission of the STM Integrity Hub, and we are excited to collaborate with this important initiative,” said Joris van Rossum, Product Director of the STM Integrity Hub.