Scientific Integrity
 

At Genomic Press, our top priority is achieving the highest standards of scientific excellence. We firmly believe this is only possible through a foundation of complete transparency and uncompromising honesty.

As a core part of our commitment to upholding scientific integrity, we have robust processes to thoroughly investigate any allegations of misconduct that come to our attention, regardless of how they surface. Whether concerns are raised before or after publication, or through whistleblowers, we take them seriously and investigate rigorously. Driven by our mission to maintain academic excellence, we diligently look into any suspected wrongdoing, including fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism of data, unethical treatment of research subjects, authorship disputes, false peer reviews, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

To further safeguard scientific integrity, all papers we publish undergo plagiarism checks, both for text and, as technology advances, for figures and images.

While we largely align with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, we maintain flexibility to take different approaches when circumstances require. This may involve communicating with authors' institutions, funders, or other relevant oversight bodies to enable thorough investigations.

When correcting the published record, we take a contextual approach, issuing errata for honest errors that don't impact overall conclusions, and reserving retractions for cases involving misconduct, errors that undermine the findings, extensive plagiarism, or an overall loss of confidence in the work. We support COPE's position on considering retraction when there is clear evidence of unreliable data (due to significant error or fabrication/falsification), plagiarism, unauthorized republication, copyright infringement, unethical research, compromised peer review, or failure to disclose major competing interests.

When considering rejecting an accepted article, retracting a published one in whole or part, or issuing an editorial expression of concern, we follow COPE guidelines on working with authors' institutions to investigate. The specific steps we take can be found in COPE's flowcharts on handling misconduct allegations. While we must correct or retract unreliable information we've published, we agree with COPE that disciplining researchers is the responsibility of their employers. So even when faced with apparent misconduct requiring corrections, we coordinate with institutions to ensure they are informed and engaged.

Our readers can trust Genomic Press to combine the highest standards of scientific integrity with a thoughtful, thorough, and fair approach to dealing with potential issues. Transparency, honesty, and uncompromising ethics are the bedrock of our publishing process.