Search

The email that is indicated on an academic paper usually reflects that of the corresponding author (CA). In some cases, there may be more than one CA, and thus emails. It stands to reason that the email, especially if its is an institutional email, should obligatorily match that of the CA’s affiliation. This report highlights 47 papers, all in Wiley (Hindawi) open access journals, in which the institutional email address suffix does not match or correspond to the stated affiliation indicated as the CA’s affiliation. All papers, except for one, have a stated Chinese academic affiliation. One possibility is that such papers are associated with paper mills, i.e., third party paid services providing content, and possibly even emails to CAs. Editors of the journals in which these papers have been published have the responsibility to investigate.

In a recent opinion paper (https://doi.org/10.3897/ese.2022.e95926), I argued that individuals with multiple retractions or a record of academic misconduct should not serve as editors, including as editors-in-chief, on the editorial boards of scholarly or academic journals. As a first step towards appreciating how such a policy could be applied in practice, 30 individuals listed on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard were screened. Several cases are highlighted to offer an appreciation of the reputational risks to journals and publishers that might occur by including individuals with a tainted academic record on editorial boards. Given the risks (reputational and legal) associated with this type of assessment and decision, more formal positioning and guidance are needed by global ethics policy-related bodies such as COPE, the ICMJE, and the CSE.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of humanity’s greatest modern socio-medical challenges. Cognizant of the serious nature of this pandemic, and before it was characterized as such, the Wellcome Trust in the UK took the bold and important initiative to call on publishers to make any research related to COVID-19 open access (OA) and encourage them to adopt open data (OD) policies. In a public statement, many publishers of subscription-based and OA journals agreed that all literature related to COVID-19 would be OA as a service to the public, society and humanity. Despite that stated agreement, evidence indicates that not all literature pertaining to this pandemic or virus is OA. In thus study, Web of Science data (August 4, 2021) indicates that 83.7% of 2020 COVID-19-related literature (78.4% for 2021; average of 81.2%) is OA, i.e., an average of 19.8% in 2020 and 2021 was not OA. It is not clear why that literature is not OA. Signatories of that Wellcome Trust-coordinated statement should offer a public explanation, or abandon being signatories.

Anonymity in anonymized peer review is incompatible with preprints

The European Union (EU), and Europe more widely, is facing its largest socio-political threat in a generation. As the political events between Russia and Ukraine, which have been festering since at least 2014, have now turned into a war, with many major Western and EU companies barring business with Russia, and with most Western Governments imposing increasingly stiffer sanctions on Russia, where do non-Russian academic publishers stand? This commentary takes a brief look at what we know, and where we stand. A humanitarian response is needed, but so too is a decision regarding treatment of Russian and Ukrainian academics.

'Global South', a term frequently used on websites and in papers related to academic and 'predatory' publishing, may represent a form of unscholarly discrimination. Arguments are put forward as to why the current use of this term is geographically meaningless, since it implies countries in the southern hemisphere, whereas many of the entities in publishing that are referred to as being part of the Global South are in fact either on the equator or in the northern hemisphere. Therefore, academics, in writing about academic publishing, should cease using this broad, culturally insensitive, and geographically inaccurate term.

Key message In response to an ultrasound pulse, several hundred DEGs, including in response to stress, were up- or down-regulated in in vitro potato plantlets. Despite this abiotic stress, plantlets survived. Abstract Ultrasound (US) can influence plant growth and development. To better understand the genetic mechanism underlying the physiological response of potato to US, single-node segments of four-week-old in vitro plantlets were subjected to US at 35 kHz for 20 min. Following mRNA purification, 10 cDNA libraries were assessed by RNA-seq. Significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were categorized by gene ontology or Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes identifiers. The expression intensity of 40,430 genes was studied. Several hundred DEGs associated with biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and catabolism, cellular protein modification, and response to stress, and which were expressed mainly in the extracellular region, nucleus, and plasma membrane, were either up- or down-regulated in response to US. RT-qPCR was used to validate RNA-seq data of 10 highly up- or down-regulated DEGs, and both Spearman and Pearson correlations between SeqMonk LFC and RT-qPCR LFC were highly positive (0.97). This study examines how some processes evolved over time (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 1 week and 4 weeks) after an abiotic stress (US) was imposed on in vitro potato explants, and provides clues to the temporal dynamics in DEG-based enzyme functions in response to this stress. Despite this abiotic stress, plantlets survived. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11103-019-00876-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Editors have increasing pressure as scholarly publishing tries to shore up trust and reassure academics and the public that traditional peer review is robust, fail-safe, and corrective. Hidden conflicts of interest (COIs) may skew the fairness of the publishing process because they could allow the status of personal or professional relationships to positively influence the outcome of peer review or reduce the processing period of this process. Not all authors have such privileged relationships. In academic journals, editors usually have very specialized skills and are selected as agents of trust, entrusted with the responsibility of serving as quality control gate-keepers during peer review. In many cases, editors form extensive networks, either with other professionals, industry, academic bodies, journals, or publishers. Such networks and relationships may influence their decisions or even their subjectivity towards a set of submitting authors, paper, or institute, ultimately influencing the peer review process. These positions and relationships are not simply aspects of a curriculum, they are potential COIs. Thus, on the editorial board of all academic journals, editors should carry a COI statement that reflects their past history, as well as actual relationships and positions that they have, as these may influence their editorial functions.

Academics are under constant pressure to optimize their time. Formatting requirements imposed on academics by journals or editors during initial manuscript submission may waste precious time, energy, and financial resources, especially if a paper is desk-rejected, and even more so when there are multiple rejections. Formatting, which does not reflect a manuscript’s academic quality, should not be a requirement during initial submission, but only after a paper has passed peer review and been approved for publication. Several publishers offer a formatting-free option during initial submission, allowing academics to optimize their time and energy.

Hungary is geographically central in the European Union (EU). Being linguistically and culturally distinct, Hungary is ideally positioned and somewhat unique, being surrounded by seven other nations. In academics, the challenges facing Hungarian scholars are no different than other scholars in the EU, or globally. In the past few years, research ethics has become more stringent, in part as a result of fortified post-publication peer review. This letter provides one perspective about the state of Hungarian research and academia relative to other EU nations through the prism of research ethics, and in the form of literature corrections, including retractions. Using the Retraction Watch database, 24 retractions, corrections or expressions of concern were observed. One third of those emerged from the University of Debrecen. Five of the corrections were in Elsevier journals, followed by four in Springer Nature journals. Compared with the remaining 26 EU nations, excluding the UK (i.e., considering Brexit), Hungary ranks 17th in terms of number of corrections (range: Malta = 2; Germany = 751). These numbers suggest either that research ethics may be more stringent in Hungary, or that the Hungarian literature has not been sufficiently scrutinized through post-publication peer review.

Shoot tip necrosis is a physiological condition and disorder that can arise in plantlets or shoots in vitro that results in death of the shoot tip. This condition, which can spread basipetally and affect the emergence of axillary shoots from buds lower down the stem, is due to the cessation of apical dominance. STN can occur at both shoot multiplication and rooting stages. One of the most common factors that cause STN is nutrient deficiency or imbalance. Moreover, the presence or absence of plant growth regulators (auxins or cytokinins) at specific developmental stages may impact STN. The cytokinin to auxin ratio within an in vitro plant can be modified by varying the concentration of cytokinins used in the culture medium. The supply of nutrients to in vitro shoots or plantlets might also affect their hormonal balance, thus modifying the occurrence of STN. High relative humidity within culture vessels and hyperhydricity are associated with STN. An adequate supply of calcium as the divalent cation (Ca2+) can hinder STN by inhibiting the accumulation of phenolic compounds and thus programmed cell death. Moreover, the level of Ca2+ affects auxin transport and ethylene production, and higher ethylene production, which can occur as a result of high relative humidity in or poor ventilation of the in vitro culture vessel, induces STN. High relative humidity can decrease the mobility of Ca2+ within a plant, resulting in Ca2+ deficiency and STN. STN of in vitro shoots or plantlets can be halted or reversed by altering the basal medium, mainly the concentration of Ca2+, adjusting the levels of auxins or cytokinins, or modifying culture conditions. This review examines the literature related to STN, seeks to discover the associated factors and relations between them, proposes practical solutions, and attempts to better understand the mechanism(s) underlying this condition in vitro This research was financed by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Programme (NKFIH-1150-6/2019) of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the Biotechnology thematic programme of the University of Debrecen. The study and submission for publication were approved by the University of Debrecen (BPTR/DEENK/0008/2019). Esmaeil Nezami-Alanagh thanks the Biotechnology Department at Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU) for their assistance in carrying out a part of the experiment work and also to Science and Technology Park of East-Azarbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, for financial support. The Spanish work on STN modeling was funded by Xunta de Galicia, Spain (CITACA Strategic Partnership, Reference: ED431E 2018/07 and REDES, Reference: ED431D-2017/19) SI

A commentary published in «Nature» by Jeffrey Beall called for the ban of “predatory” journals from the scientific record. That call for a ban was deeply flawed since the lists on which the term “predatory” were based, were themselves flawed. Many papers published in such journals are valid, having been peer reviewed, and acting in an academically responsible manner, making Beall’s call unfair, and discriminatory. Beall’s blog served as a useful alert system, but in no way were Beall’s black lists, which failed to indicate precise inclusion criteria for each entry, validated by scholars around the globe, much less suitable for use in any policy-making. Even though the Beall blog suddenly went blank on January 15, 2017, with no explanation to the public by Beall, the lists continue to be flaunted as de facto publishing black lists by several academics and websites., Bibliothecae.it, Vol 6, No 1 (2017)

KA

KA

KA

8 páginas Muchas revistas y editores emplean sistemas de envío en línea (OSS, por su sigla en inglés) para el procesamiento de manuscritos. En algunos casos, existe un formato único de "plantilla", que luego se moldea ligeramente para adaptarse a las necesidades específicas de cada revista, según la decisión tomada por el editor en jefe o los editores. En los últimos años ha habido un aumento en el número de casos en que los OSS han sido abusados, principalmente por la autoría, ya sea mediante la creación de falsas identidades o el uso de cuentas de correo electrónico falsas. Aunque los autores abusivos o fraudulentos son culpables en tales casos, el hecho de que estos no hayan sido detectados durante tanto tiempo es motivo de preocupación. Además, los OSS actuales son imperfectos, tienen problemas de seguridad y pueden no ser capaces de detectar información falsa, excepto a través de la verificación posterior a la presentación del manuscrito. Las operaciones de relámpago, que implican la presentación de manuscritos falsos con falsas identidades y falsas afiliaciones, no son menos éticas, y quienes abusan del protocolo de publicación merecen ser tan amonestados como aquellos que abusan de los OSS. Finalmente, el autor del artículo cuestiona la ética de los editores o editores que crean cuentas OSS en nombre de los revisores, antes de obtener su permiso explícito. Many journals and publishers employ online submission systems (OSSs) to process manuscripts. In some cases, one “template” format exists, but it is then molded slightly to suit the specific needs of each journal, a decision made by the editor-in-chief or editors. In the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of cases in which OSSs have been abused, mostly by the authorship, either through the creation of fake identities or the use of false e-mail accounts. Although the abusive or fraudulent authors are at fault in such cases, the fact that such cases remained undetected for so long is of concern. Moreover, the current OSSs are imperfect, have security issues and may not be able to detect false information, except through post-submission verification. Sting operations, which involve the submission of false manuscripts with false identities and false affiliations, are no less unethical, and those who abuse the publishing protocol deserve to be as reprimanded as those who abuse OSSs. Finally, I question the ethics of editors or publishers creating OSS accounts on behalf of reviewers prior to obtaining their explicit permission.

Standardization of an efficient regeneration system for each strawberry genotype is generally an indispensible pre-requisite for the successful development of transgenic plants. In this paper, we review some key factors affecting the regeneration of strawberry plants via adventitious organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis, such as type of explant, growth regulators or dark/light treatments