Journals selected in the China Science and Technology Journals Excellence Action Plan jointly launch an initiative to maintain academic integrity

China News Service, Beijing, August 19 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The reporter learned from the China Association for Science and Technology (China Association for Science and Technology) on August 19 that in order to vigorously promote the spirit of science, create a clean and upright academic ecosystem, and accelerate the construction of world-class scientific and technological journals, the selected journals and clusters of the China Science and Technology Journals Excellence Action Plan have recently jointly released an initiative to maintain academic integrity, and "regulating the application of artificial intelligence" is one of the main contents.

This initiative with the theme of “Adhere to Scientific Research Integrity and Jointly Build a First-Class Journal” mainly includes the following seven aspects:

——Adhere to honesty and promote scientific spirit. We must abide by scientific research integrity and academic ethics, vigorously promote the excellent academic style of truth-seeking, pragmatism, and rigorous scholarship, adhere to academic conscience, and maintain the seriousness and purity of scientific and technological innovation activities.

——Abide by publishing ethics and maintain academic standards. Strictly abide by academic publishing standards and publishing ethics requirements, improve the editing and publishing system, standardize manuscript processing procedures, oppose the "circle" culture in the field of scientific research, resist all kinds of favor manuscripts and relationship manuscripts, and maintain the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of academic records.

——Standardize the application of artificial intelligence and clarify the boundaries of use. Strictly regulate the auxiliary application of artificial intelligence technology in scientific research activities and academic publishing, establish and improve the disclosure system for artificial intelligence use, proactively declare the specific uses and degree of intervention of artificial intelligence tools, and ensure that academic contributions are clearly attributed and responsibilities are traceable.

——Enhance bottom line awareness and resist academic misconduct. We resolutely oppose plagiarism, data falsification, picture tampering, repeated publication, improper attribution, manipulation of peer review, false citations, ghostwriting and submission of papers, "paper factories" and other behaviors, and adhere to "zero tolerance" for academic misconduct.

——Strengthen quality orientation and strictly control academic standards. Adhere to quality first, constantly improve the peer review system, enhance the professional capabilities of editors and review experts, and maintain the independence, impartiality and authority of academic evaluation.

——Strengthen collaborative governance and jointly build an ecology of integrity. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation among scientific journals, scientific research institutions, universities and academic organizations, promote shared governance and sharing of scientific research integrity, and jointly improve the ability to identify, prevent and govern academic misconduct.

——Practice open sharing and promote credible communication. Actively advocate the concept of open science, promote the standardized dissemination and open sharing of scientific research results, and promote scientific and technological achievements to better serve innovation, development and human progress.

The China Association for Science and Technology provided an explanation to the media that day, saying that in recent years, with the rapid development of global scientific research activities and the widespread application of digital technology, scientific research integrity governance is facing new challenges.

Among them, the trend of academic fraud industry chains such as "paper factories" has intensified and become more concealed. By fabricating scientific research data, manipulating peer review, ghostwriting and submission of papers, etc., it has seriously damaged the academic ecology and affected the credibility of scientific research evaluation. The illegal use of artificial intelligence in paper writing also brings new risks such as generating false content, falsifying data, and improper signatures.

In response to the new problems brought about by the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the latest initiative proposes to standardize the auxiliary application of artificial intelligence technology in scientific research activities and academic publishing, establish and improve the disclosure system of artificial intelligence use, clarify the purpose of tools and the degree of intervention, and ensure clear attribution of academic contributions and traceable responsibilities. This reflects the active embrace and prudent governance of scientific and technological journals towards the development of new technologies.

The initiative focuses on scientific research integrity and the entire process of academic publishing, and puts forward seven requirements. It not only responds to current outstanding issues, but also focuses on future development trends. It reflects the responsibility of the science and technology community and the journal community to proactively respond to the requirements of the times, strengthen industry self-discipline, and promote academic ecological governance.

It is understood that as China's largest science and technology journal project, the China Science and Technology Journals Excellence Action Plan has been cultivating a number of internationally competitive journals that represent the development level of China's science and technology journals since its implementation in 2019. So far, nearly 400 of its supported journals have been included in the Journal Citation Report, 283 have ranked among the top 25% of subject rankings, and 23 have ranked first in subject rankings.