Alternative Methods of Publishing

This webinar in the series of research integrity sessions from the UK Research Integrity Office will be discussing ‘Alternative methods of publishing’ research.

It is well known that not all aspects of publishing research are as transparent and robust as they should be. There are many risks associated with bias, self-plagairism, peer review, p-hacking, HARKing, authorship disputes, image manipulation and many other questionable publication practices that raise queries about the integrity of the research and researchers. In recent years the focus on reproducibility and the need for open research practices are driving new methods of publishing which the speakers will explore in this webinar.

Speakers

Dr Alexandra Freeman, Director, Octopus; In this session, Alex described the thinking behind Octopus and how it is designed to incentivise good science rather than good storytelling. There will also be an opportunity to give feedback as well as ask questions, and to get involved more deeply before the platform’s full launch in spring 2022, in partnership with Jisc, the UK Reproducibility Network and with funding from UKRI. Click here to view slides.

 

Professor Dorothy Bishop, FRS, FBA, FMedSci, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford; As an early adopter of Registered Reports, Professor Bishop discussed how this publishing model contrasts with conventional publishing, and what the benefits are for authors and for science in general. She will also address some frequently asked questions about Registered Reports. Click here to view slides.

 

Professor Chris Chambers, Cardiff University; Registered Reports are a form of empirical publication, offered by over 300 journals, in which study proposals are peer reviewed and pre-accepted before research is undertaken. By deciding which articles are published based on the question, theory, and methods, Registered Reports offer a remedy for a range of reporting and publication biases. In this talk, Prof. Chris Chambers introduced a new platform for supporting Registered Reports called the Peer Community in Registered Reports (PCI RR). PCI RR is a non-profit, non-commercial platform that coordinates the peer-reviews of RR preprints (https://rr.peercommunityin.org/about/about). Once the submissions are accepted following peer review (or, in PCI terms, “recommended”), the revised manuscript is posted at the preprint server where the preprint is hosted, and the peer reviews and recommendation of the preprint are posted at the PCI website. PCI RR is also joined by a growing fleet of “PCI RR-friendly” journals that agree to endorse the recommendations of PCI RR without further review (https://rr.peercommunityin.org/about/pci_rr_friendly_journals), giving the authors the power to choose which journal, if any, will publish their manuscript. By reclaiming control of the peer review process from publishers, PCI RR (and the wider suite of PCIs in different fields) offer a promising avenue for ensuring that Registered Reports are made as open, accessible, and rigorous as possible, while also moving toward a future in which journals themselves become obsolete. Background: https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/psychology/2021/07/26/registered-reports-free-for-authors-and-readers/. Click here to view slides.