Building bridges with China around research integrity

Last December an unusual conference took place in Zhuhai, China. The 4th Data-Driven Knowledge Discovery Symposium was not unique in its focus on research integrity, which is a hot topic right now. What made the event stand out was the balance of Chinese and international participants, the range of perspectives they represented and the degree to which they engaged and interacted with each other. In addition, the event ended with a signed commitment to establish regular lines of communication and collaboration between the Chinese and international research communities around research integrity.

More than 100 participants attended from across the research ecosystem, including researchers, senior faculty and institution administrators, editors, publishers, industry representatives and academic think tanks. The conference was co-sponsored by the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS NSL) and the International Academic Center of Complex Systems of Beijing Normal University, which helped ensure the broad representation of the attendees.

In their opening speeches, CAS NSL Director Liu Xiwen and Dr Yang Liying, Director of the CAS NSL Center for Scientometrics and Evaluation, framed the conference as helping to build bridges between international and Chinese researchers, institutions, publishers and other stakeholders. In this attendee’s view, the sessions, panels and discussion between participants made progress toward that goal. Research integrity leaders from a dozen international publishers and top Chinese universities and research hospitals had a chance to speak face-to-face and learn more about each other’s challenges, aspirations and approaches, and everyone got a clearer idea of the scope of efforts being made in China and around the world to combat academic misconduct and preserve the integrity of scholarly research.

Conference Summary

Day One looked at the efforts of international publishers to incorporate research integrity and academic misconduct monitoring into author and publishing workflows. We also saw several presentations from Chinese research university hospitals revealing the considerable effort and investment they’ve made to promote and uphold research integrity. The day closed with a panel discussion that highlighted how perspectives on research integrity can differ depending on one’s role and geographic location. Understanding these different perspectives is a crucial key step in bridging perception gaps that inhibit progress.

It's safe to say that Day Two was an eye-opener for many of the international conference attendees. Presenters from Chinese universities and affiliated research hospitals and the CAS NSL provided a wealth of data and analysis demonstrating how seriously members of China’s research community take the challenge of research integrity, and their commitment to addressing them. Like the international publishers and research hospitals the previous day, many presenters focused on the threat from systematic academic misconduct by bad actors including paper mills, citation rings and peer review rings. Day Two concluded with another panel discussion, this one examining participants’ views on the pros and cons of generative AI and Open Science in promoting research integrity and combatting academic misconduct. It was a lively session that showed a wide range of robustly held and sometimes quite divergent viewpoints.

Throughout the conference, and especially during the panel discussions, participants and audience members were actively engaged, with many discussions continuing through lunch and dinner. It was a truly collaborative environment, the type we need if we are to make real progress in global research integrity.

Conference Takeaways

Key themes that emerged from the conference include:

• Chinese institutions and research hospitals are just as frustrated and challenged by papers as are international publishers and research integrity groups, and there was consensus that legal remedies are needed in addition to existing measures
• The international research community is likely not aware to the extent to which China has invested time, effort and resources into addressing academic misconduct, even while Chinese institutions and other stakeholders admit more work is needed
• Academic misconduct worldwide has transitioned from individual instances to systematic fraud such as peer review and citation rings and paper mills
• Generative AI is viewed by all participants as a tool that can be manipulated by perpetrators of systematic academic misconduct, but also one that might help shore up research integrity efforts
• While efforts at identifying bad actors and systematic academic misconduct are improving, the key problem lies in the academic incentive system that continues to reward quantity and impact of publications for individual and institutional advancement.
• Consequences for authors proven to have engaged in academic misconduct have not been serious enough to provide a deterrent to others, particularly early career researchers facing immense pressure to “publish or perish”
• Funders need to become active participants in and supporters of research integrity efforts worldwide, something we’ve not seen enough of to date
• While the growth of OA and Open Science may provide opportunities for bad actors, the focus of Open Science on making all research traceable and verifiable will eventually create more barriers and checkpoints for fraudulent papers and data
• We won’t make real progress in combating academic misconduct and addressing the incentive system unless institutions, publishers, funders, think tanks, industry associations collaborate to align best practices and adoption of research integrity across stakeholders and regions.

International Research Integrity Working Group MOU

To address this last point, CAS NSL organised a Memorandum of Understanding in which signatories expressed support for establishing an international research integrity reference group. The reference group will act to serve as bridge between China and the global research community around research integrity, and address some of the communication and cultural obstacles that prevent wider and more consistent implementation of research integrity best practices. It will have Chinese and international representatives of organisations directly involved in research integrity, including Chinese universities and research institutes, Chinese and international publishers, research integrity advocacy groups, and ideally funders. Such a group could provide a valuable forum for addressing key research integrity challenges, align work in China with that of international groups, formulate policy recommendations and coordinate academic and industry collaborations.

More than 20 organisations and individuals signed the MOU, including Chinese institutions and leading researchers, international publishers, CrossRef and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In early 2024 signatories will come together to agree on the next steps for forming this working group, including membership, mission, objectives and governance. In this way the work of this unique gathering in Zhuhai will hopefully continue for years to come.