BMJ joins the initiative as a participating publisher alongside more than 15 leading publishers, including SAGE, Oxford University Press, Wiley, and Elsevier. Representatives from BMJ are currently part of the collaboration group looking at Image Manipulation Detection, and play a key role on the Governance board for the project.

Housed within STM Solutions, the operational arm of STM (The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers), the hub aims to offer a holistic approach to detecting manuscripts that offend research integrity principles.

It provides a cloud-based environment for publishers to check submitted articles for research integrity issues. The technology will be supported by current industry best practices, and with respect to the laws and ethics of data privacy and competition/ anti-trust.

Simone Ragavooloo, Research Integrity Manager at BMJ, said: “One of the aims of the collaboration hub is to ‘spark and sustain collaboration'. I think this is a great message. There is a limit to what any publisher can achieve alone in the fight against unreliable or counterfeit science. It is essential that we work together to uphold the integrity of the scientific record. The collaboration hub is a promising step in the right direction."

Ian Mulvany, Chief Technology Officer, BMJ, added: "At BMJ, we are excited to help facilitate knowledge exchange by helping to develop a reliable think tank for publishers to safeguard research integrity in science. This living library of infrastructure and tools harnesses technological innovation to offer a holistic approach to detect research-integrity-offending manuscripts.”