Cooperation And Liaison Between Universities And Editors (CLUE): Recommendations On Best Practice

Abstract

Journals and research institutions have common interests regarding the trustworthiness of research publications but their specific roles and responsibilities differ. These draft recommendations aim to address issues surrounding cooperation and liaison between journals and institutions about possible and actual problems with reported research. The proposals will be discussed at various meetings including the World Conference on Research Integrity in May 2017. We will also consider comments and suggestions posted on this preprint.\n\nThe main recommendations are that: O_LINational registers of individuals or departments responsible for research integrity at institutions should be created.\nC_LIO_LIInstitutions should develop mechanisms for assessing the validity of research reports that are independent from processes to determine whether individual researchers have committed misconduct.\nC_LIO_LIEssential research data and peer review records should be retained for at least 10 years.\nC_LIO_LIWhile journals should normally raise concerns with authors in the first instance, they also need criteria to determine when to contact the institution before, or at the same time as, alerting the authors in cases of suspected data fabrication or falsification to prevent the destruction of evidence.\nC_LIO_LIAnonymous or pseudonymous allegations made to journals or institutions should be judged on their merit and not dismissed automatically.\nC_LIO_LIInstitutions should release relevant sections of reports of research trustworthiness or misconduct investigations to all journals that have published research that was the subject of the investigation.\nC_LI