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1 June, 2022 16:42

RSF review innovations discussed at World Conference of Research Integrity

7th World Conference on Research Integrity in Cape Town, South Africa hosted by University of Cape Town from May 29 to June 1 in hybrid format, attracted more than 1000 physical and virtual delegates from all over the world. WCRI is the most significant event on the international research integrity calendar.
Credit: RSF Press Office
Credit: RSF Press Office
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Credit: RSF Press Office
Credit: RSF Press Office

It fosters the exchange of information and harmonization of efforts to boost good research practices through discussion the ethical challenges such as authorship, plagiarism, non-peer-reviewed research, duplicate submissions, image alteration, paper mills, predatory journals etc. The conference includes a number of important discussions tackling questions around the practice of research, including issues around data, research and integrity in the time of COVID-19 and the impact of research assessments and institutional rankings on research integrity.

Research integrity is increasingly seen as a driver of research excellence and public trust so that society can trust the outcomes of research and researchers can trust each other to build upon existing research. This year's theme is “Fostering Research Integrity in an Unequal World” so that everyone looks forward to the outcome of the Cape Town Statement as a catalyst to bring change to unequal partnerships with unfair distribution of research benefits and direction towards more diversity in skills, knowledge and research teams, especially in health.

RSF is contributing to the WCRI 2022 program with oral presentation “AI-inspired integrity implications in grants review: Russian Science Foundation experience”. The first results of AI-deployment in review were discussed at world level. 

“The evidence we gathered in our study suggests AI use in peer review may help improve the process, boost the quality of reviews and ensure a better integrity”, Sergey Konovalov, RSF speaker noted. “Through automation we try as much as possible to avoid the risks of biases and the notorious "human factor" when evaluating grants in the direction of greater honesty, fairness, impartiality and objectivity”.

Concerning the future, RSF shared plans to integrate semantic analysis and machine learning into the review system. It was highlighted the importance of further expansion of reviewers database, refining, updating and clarifying data and keywords in reviewer profiles, standardization of the interests of reviewers and keywords, development of algorithms for analyzing the work of reviewers, creation of algorithms for detecting anomalies in assessments. RSF also assured it will continue an open, honest and trusting dialogue with the research community, whose activities these algorithms directly concern.

RSF already contributed to the World Conferences on Research Integrity with presentation in 2019. We are looking forward to discussing how to safeguard research integrity worldwide and to working on research integrity to support scientists and institutions in ensuring that research is carried out responsibly, with integrity, and to the highest standards. It is important to ensure ethics, integrity, fairness and equity in research, and to share skills and resources with global community.

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