Lex Bouter

This 4th update of my preprint Academic novels on research integrity contains descriptions of 5 additional novels. lnkd.in/eSFQHhhV Please let me know about novels on research integrity I should consider to add.

"Conducting replications and striving for replicability, where feasible, can complement existing practices and thus is an epistemic opportunity that deserves further exploration across a broad spectrum of humanities studies". Article: lnkd.in/ejFQyJMm PhD thesis: lnkd.in/eSdk2ETv

We are excited to announce that we are going to broadcast the second day of Meta-Research Symposium 2026 (this Friday on October 9th) for those who were interested but unable to join in person. JOIN: teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi... PROGRAM: docs.google.com/document/u/0...

The excellent thought-provoking Steneck-Mayer keynote lecture by Robbert Dijkgraaf is now freely available on the Vimeo channel of the World Conferences on Research Integrity channel: vimeo.com/showcase/122... All 14 2026 9th WCRI videos available at: vimeo.com/showcase/122...

The PRC Alliance exists to standardize, promote Publish-Review-Curate (PRC) #PeerReview workflows across platforms. The model still lacks empirical evidence, best practice guidance scholarlykitchen.ssp... The Scholarly Kitchen @coar-repositories.bsky.social ASAPbio

Thanks to the concerted effort of the TOP Advisory Board and authors who incorporated feedback from societies, editors, and advocates, the revision of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines was published this week in Research Integrity and Peer Review. 📄

I'm pleased to be on the Editorial Committee for @sci-integrity.com and I recommend you read the latest issue of REACH. Especially if, like me, you were not able to attend the 9th World Conference on Research Integrity - everything there is in here!

📝 Latest Article Alert! 📝 "Shared responsibility to address questionable research practices? – A study of perceived efficacy of organizational research integrity policies" Simon Fuglsang et al. → doi.org/10.1080/0898... #QuestionableResearchPractices #ResearcherBhavior #ResearchIntegrity

What if research papers could flag potential problems before publication? @lakens.bsky.social showcases tools for identifying reporting inconsistencies, citation issues, reproducibility concerns, and other signals relevant to research integrity. Register free; open to all. tinyurl.com/3wbx9tmr

Registered Reports improve the credibility of scientific claims by rewarding big questions, sound methods and solid analyses. They need to become a standard tool in research. go.nature.com/4dP1rwk

Excellent news! Nature is expanding Registered Reports to all the fields in which they publish! A great result by all those proposing this strong solution to publication bias and selective reporting (and getting expert feedback before data collection)! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Thanks for documenting and sharing reflections from the 2026 World Conference on Research Integrity in Vancouver. A valuable resource for continuing conversations on research integrity across contexts and communities.

Thanks @elisabethbik.bsky.social for this informative blog post on the #WCRI2026, including your many excellent Bluesky life threads of sessions you attended. The conference videos will be made public after 3 months on the @wcrifoundation.bsky.social Vimeo channel: vimeo.com/user17566807...

Two new facts stand out: 1. 85% of hallucinated citations in preprints are also in the subsequent journal version (thanks, peer review!) 2. Fake cites more likely to use the names of (male) scholars who are already highly cited, creating a fake-citation Matthew effect. arxiv.org/abs/2605.07723

Detecting fake papers was one of the prominent themes of the 9th World Conference on Research Integrity. As scientific fraud proliferates, so do businesses that aim to stop it cen.acs.org/policy/publi...

Surveys show up to 76% of researchers use AI, but self-disclosures in BMJ submissions sit at just 5.7%. There are global standards being drafted to fix this gap but it’s a messy debate over whether to declare simple edits or only full agentic research. #AcademicSky

#WCRI2026 is over. I would like to share the summary of several presentations on paper mills. abalkina.com/wcri-2026-pa... abalkina.com/wcri-2026-pa... Part 3 will be released soon.

🚨 NEWS: The first report from the Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) movement maps one of the most critical issues facing global research: manipulation. The report has been launched at the World Conferences on Research Integrity in Vancouver, Canada. #WCRI2026 🔗 See more: https://ow.ly/hqbH50YVwYe

Thank you, all the sponsors, for making this possible. #WCRI2026

And a photo of all those award winners. Congratulations to all! #WCRI2026

After lunch, Inge Stegeman, with "Open Science to Increase Reproducibility in Science: The OSIRIS Project" - osiris4r.eu Is Open Science going to solve all our problems with reproducibility? Are there benefits or harms? Let's study this! We got funding and a good group from all over Europe #WCRI2026

$300 for 50 citations: the citation black market: www.nature.com/articles/d41... #WCRI2026

Citation cartels are now masquerading as researchers in war zones or low-income countries to obtain journal fee waivers, according to @abalkina.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/research-int... #WCRI2026

Code of conduct for sleuthing being discussed at #WCRI2026 reported here: cen.acs.org/research-int...

UK Committee on Research Integrity mentioned at #WCRI2026: www.chemistryworld.com/news/dedicat...

Paper mill content growing faster than legitimate research, according to study by @reeserichardson.bsky.social & colleagues — which @elisabethbik.bsky.social mentioned in her talk at #WCRI2026: cen.acs.org/policy/publi...

What a moment! 🌟 @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @brandonstell.bsky.social, @pubpeer.com, and Tim Errington @cos.io on stage at #WCRI2026 For our 5-year-old #EinsteinFoundationAward, there's no better birthday present than seeing our winners on the world's premier stage for research integrity.

Researchers who use generative AI to write papers are publishing more cen.acs.org/policy/publi...

Around $1,000 can buy you first authorship on a dodgy scientific paper cen.acs.org/policy/publi...

RD: Science is in transition - we don't know what we will transition to, but it can be better. International collaboration is key. Our lifespans are longer than political governments. These are no ideological goals, but operational requirements. Thank you all for your incredible work! #WCRI2026

It's 5 pm in Vancouver, and we are getting ready for the Steneck-Mayer lecture, given by Prof. Robbert Dijkgraaf President-Elect, International Science Council. [He gave a very good talk at the @einsteinberlin.bsky.social ceremony last year, so looking forward!] #WCRI2026

RD: Science is a complex ecosystem, its strength lies in the connectivity of the network, but it also serves society. The whole of science is more than the sum of its parts - like the rainforest, it is diverse as well as brutal. We need to improve the low ceilings, internal walls, etc. #WCRI2026

#wcri2026 day starting with @jabyrnesci.bsky.social introducing the session "Misuse of AI by Paper Mills". (As opposed to the correct use of AI by paper mills, presumably 😜)

Tomorrow at #WCRI2026, the #EinsteinFoundationAward hosts a plenary showcasing winners who advance responsible science. Timothy Errington @cos.io, @brandonstell.bsky.social @pubpeer.com, and @elisabethbik.bsky.social share insights on open science, post-publication peer review and error detection.

Good morning from Vancouver! We start with Plenary Session #1: Misuse of AI by Paper Mills. The first talk is by Dr. Daniel Moreira with Misuse of AI in Research- From Data Production to Manuscripts He works with Machine Learning, a specific form of AI, to find patterns in complex data. #WCRI2026

This reminds me of this gem: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/106.... Full of tortured phrases & veers crazily from topic to topic. Reported to IEEE Head of Research Integrity, Luigi Longobardi, in Nov 2025 & was told their committee wld look at it in New Year. Pure gobbledegook: still not retracted

If you’ll be at the World Conferences on Research Integrity, consider joining our pres, “Friendly Ghosts?”. We’ll discuss authorship dilemmas when contributors decline. Tuesday, 11.15am, Stream G. Me, Jennifer Wright, and Michael Vincent #WCRI2026 #researchintegrity @wcrifoundation.bsky.social

"Is the scientific literature a database or a library?" Interesting 'food for thought' and recommended reading. bit.ly/3OIhcwe

Two main frameworks that shape research assessment in the NLs are moving to open research information in line with the #BarcelonaDeclaration: the new SEP protocol and NWO's evidence based CV. A blog (w/ @ludowaltman.bsky.social) about context and importance: upstream.force11.org/research-eva...

Replication studies are feasible in and relevant for the Humanities as well. On 24 April 13:45 Charlotte Rulkens will defend her PhD thesis that contains an example of replication study in Art History. Download thesis: bit.ly/3QOyA32 Information on thesis defence and stream link: bit.ly/4clQz9H

Practical guidance for prompt engineering for use of ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot in medicine and medical research, with an appropriate warning: "GenAI chatbots may provide incorrect or misleading information ... which highlights the need for careful fact-checking and expert review." bit.ly/488exCP

Dutch universities set out vision for ‘new publication culture’. Change is needed to address integrity problems caused by “publish or perish” culture, universities say. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

Three recent papers examined reproducibility of a large sample of findings. Join this webinar to discuss them and explore where the findings converge and differ. 1. SCORE: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 2. I4R: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 3. Meta-Rep: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

📝 Latest Article Alert! 📝 "How to categorize citation irregularities: A proposal based on an exploration of the literature" Qilin Zhang, Yitong Li & @lexbouter.bsky.social → doi.org/10.1080/0898... #Citation #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchMisconduct

Last week, the new phase for ORE was officially announced. The consortium backing the net platform is a unique collaboration between 16 funders and institutions, and @cern.bsky.social as the operating organization. I’m proud to say that the Dutch Research Council is a member. Read our news item:👇🏽

Join us on May 3 for a series of workshops. Workshop 3: Bridging the Gap: Turning Research Misconduct Cases into Ethics Training Tools 🕘 9:00 AM–12:00 PM May 3–6, 2026 | Vancouver 9th #WCRI