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New signal detects tortured phrases in manuscript submissions
Signals now scans journal submissions for tortured phrases, helping editors and research integrity teams quickly spot these issues early in the publishing process. These unusual and often nonsensical phrases are used in place of standard academic terms — a couple of examples include “man-made consciousness” instead of “artificial intelligence”, and “bosom peril” instead of “breast […]
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Signals Launches Sleuth AI
Introducing Sleuth AI: Signals’ AI-powered research integrity assistant We’re excited to launch the next generation of research integrity evaluation. Sleuth AI transforms how editorial and research integrity teams investigate manuscripts — turning hours of manual analysis into minutes of intelligent, interactive exploration. Ask questions, uncover evidence, detect potential issues — all with the transparency and […]
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New signal spots risky email domains
We’re pleased to announce our newest signal — risky email domains. This signal is designed to help publishers further reduce research integrity risks and protect the quality of the scholarly record by identifying a subtle issue related to author identity and manuscript provenance. When a manuscript is uploaded to Signals, it extracts the authors’ email […]
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Fake attributions: a persistent and evolving research integrity problem
In the 1980s, Robert Slutsky and John Darsee were two of the most prolific authors in medical research. At the University of California San Diego, Slutsky was publishing one article every ten days. On the other side of the US, at Harvard Medical School, Darsee was still in his early 30s but had already published […]
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Research Fraud at MIT: High-Profile Study Was Too Good to Be True
Another day, another case of high-profile research fraud. An internal review at MIT has concluded that a paper submitted by a PhD student should be withdrawn from both arXiv and The Quarterly Journal of Economics, where it was submitted for publication. This is no normal first-year PhD paper. The article attracted coverage from The Wall […]
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Expert perspective: Wu Guangheng Looks at the Future of Research Integrity
In late February we gave a presentation on the Future of Research Integrity at the Researcher to Reader Conference in London. In preparation we sought opinions and insights from leading research integrity sleuths, many of whom were generous with their time and expertise. Among these was Wu Guangheng, Ph.D, founder president of the 5GH Foundation, […]
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Article Collections: Your Custom View of Research Integrity
At Signals, we evaluate the credibility of any article or manuscript using the Signals Data Graph, which stores and analyzes the world’s publication data and combines it with expert knowledge. Because we can evaluate every article, we can also aggregate these evaluations to provide insights across journals or institutions. This helps publishers quickly identify, understand, […]
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The future of research integrity: insights from the audience at Researcher to Reader
Last week, Nicko and I attended the Researcher to Reader conference in London. The event brings together researchers, publishers, and institutions, creating opportunities for interesting conversations and learning. We’re already looking forward to next year’s event. During the conference, we gave a talk on ‘The Future of Research Integrity’. We highlighted historic cases of research […]
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Signals launches Expert Contributions: amplifying insights from the community to restore trust in research
Specialized research communities hold knowledge that, if shared more widely, could transform how we identify trustworthy and valuable research. So we’re excited to introduce Expert Contributions, a new Signals’ initiative designed to amplify the insights of researchers, sleuths, and subject-matter experts. These contributions add critical as well as positive insights on individual articles, helping the […]
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You don’t know what you don’t know: how Signals helps publishers understand research integrity in their journals
One of the most interesting parts of building Signals is that we have a comprehensive view of research integrity across the publishing landscape, and can pinpoint specific issues impacting journals and publishers. The Signals Data Graph, which networks billions of nodes of publication data, enables us to see which journals have no or few research […]