Journals publish disproportionate number of papers by their editors

1 year ago 97

An investigation of much than 1000 subject journals published implicit 38 years suggests that 12 per cent of diary editors people a 5th of their ain research

Society 16 January 2023

By Clare Wilson

Research insubstantial subsmissions from scientists who besides service connected a journal's editorial committee whitethorn get treated much favourably than those of different scientists

More than 1 successful 10 researchers who are besides the editors of subject journals people a 5th of their ain papers successful their journals – and 1 successful 20 people a 3rd of their ain work. This raises the question of whether editors’ submissions get treated much favourably.

For implicit a decade, determination has been interest that a increasing fig of probe papers are flawed. This is sometimes called science’s replication crisis, arsenic the flaws whitethorn travel to airy if different probe teams can’t reproduce the results.

Part of the occupation is the unit connected scientists to people arsenic galore papers arsenic possible, arsenic this helps them summation promotion and entree probe funds.

Decisions connected which papers to judge are made by a journal’s committee of editors, who are usually practising probe scientists. While editors question proposal connected submitted papers from different scientists who are experts connected the topic, known arsenic adjacent review, they inactive person a batch of power implicit the process.

To gauge the grade of the problem, Bedoor AlShebli astatine New York University Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, and her colleagues analysed a database of much than 1000 journals published betwixt 1980 and 2018 by Elsevier, a institution down one-fifth of the world’s technological papers.

While determination was large saltation successful the self-publishing rates, 12 per cent of these journals’ editors published much than a 5th of their papers successful their journals and 6 per cent published much than a 3rd successful their journals.

The squad utilized bundle to lucifer each of these editors with a akin researcher, for illustration 1 successful the aforesaid technological field. Results amusement that these examination researchers mostly had lone a tiny percent of their papers accepted by the diary successful question.

This raises the anticipation that papers submitted to a diary by its exertion are treated much favourably, “which whitethorn beryllium considered an maltreatment of the technological publishing system”, according to AlShebli’s team.

“Publishing successful a diary is expected to beryllium a awesome that the diary thought this is good-quality science,” says Stuart Buck, who runs the Good Science Project, a non-profit US organisation that aims to amended technological rigour. “At the precise least, [self-publishing] seems similar a struggle of interest.”

Dorothy Bishop astatine the University of Oxford, says immoderate editors whitethorn effort to people high-quality subject successful their ain journals to amended its profile, alternatively than to boost their ain careers. In specified cases, the scientists should measurement backmost from editorial committee decisions connected whether to judge the enactment and authorities successful the insubstantial that this has happened, says Bishop.

This is recommended successful a acceptable of guidelines from the Committee connected Publication Ethics, an planetary diary advisory body. The editors whose probe was included successful the latest survey whitethorn person followed this process, arsenic AlShebli’s squad didn’t measure however often immoderate specified statements look successful self-published papers.

A spokesperson for Elsevier says it does not exclude editors from publishing successful their ain journals arsenic immoderate technological fields are constrictive and whitethorn lone person a fistful of applicable journals. Nevertheless, editors should not beryllium progressive successful decisions astir papers they person written and determination indispensable beryllium a wide connection to this effect erstwhile immoderate specified insubstantial is published, they say.