Journals' instructions to authors: A cross-sectional study across scientific disciplines

In light of increasing calls for transparent reporting of research and prevention of detrimental research practices, we conducted a cross-sectional machine-assisted analysis of a representative sample of scientific journals' instructions to authors (ItAs) across all disciplines. We investigated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e0222157-e0222157
Main Authors: Malički, Mario, Aalbersberg, IJsbrand Jan, Bouter, Lex, Ter Riet, Gerben
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Bibliographic data bases
Biology
Biomedical Research - standards
Cardiology
Conflicts of interest
Critical care
Cross-Sectional Studies
Editorial Policies
Epidemiology
Guidelines as Topic
Humanities
Humans
Information sharing
Integrity
Library associations
Medical ethics
Medical libraries
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methods
Occupational health
Peer review
Peer Review - ethics
Peer Review - methods
Peer Review - standards
Peer Review, Research - standards
Periodicals as Topic - standards
Physical Sciences
Plagiarism
Publishing
Publishing industry
Research and Analysis Methods
Research Report - standards
Scholarly publishing
Science journals
Science Policy
Science writers
Social Sciences
Studies
Systematic review
Works
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Summary:In light of increasing calls for transparent reporting of research and prevention of detrimental research practices, we conducted a cross-sectional machine-assisted analysis of a representative sample of scientific journals' instructions to authors (ItAs) across all disciplines. We investigated addressing of 19 topics related to transparency in reporting and research integrity. Only three topics were addressed in more than one third of ItAs: conflicts of interest, plagiarism, and the type of peer review the journal employs. Health and Life Sciences journals, journals published by medium or large publishers, and journals registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) were more likely to address many of the analysed topics, while Arts & Humanities journals were least likely to do so. Despite the recent calls for transparency and integrity in research, our analysis shows that most scientific journals need to update their ItAs to align them with practices which prevent detrimental research practices and ensure transparent reporting of research.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0222157