New signals to provide insight on the integrity of authors institutions

Institution integrity

We’re excited to release a set of new signals related to authors’ institutions. 

To help protect the reputation of journals and speed up author checks, Signals now highlights when authors are affiliated with institutions with high rates of ‘problematic retractions’ (retractions due to fraud, including papermills). 

These signals help editors to make informed decisions on an article’s source with minimal effort. 

An evolution in our institution signal

In our effort to provide signals on the trustworthiness of research based on the connections within article metadata, it’s important to us to not only add new signals from these networks, but also iterate and improve existing signals. 

Due to Signals transparent approach, users have been able to provide feedback on individual signals. This has enabled us to understand the importance of the institution signal and how we could provide even more helpful insight. In addition to adding the new signals, we have also updated thresholds to reduce false positive signals on legitimate institutions. We’re grateful for the research community’s feedback in helping us on our mission to restore trust in research.