Springer Nature strives to share outstanding and robust research. We take a positive and proactive approach to preventing and addressing errors and misconduct. We provide robust training and policies for our editors, and we commit to supporting researchers with best practice in their research.

Springer Nature Research Integrity Team

Our Research Integrity team advises our editors, reviewers, and authors on best practices and ethical conduct in research. We provide training for editors on the fundamentals of publication best practice, and on how to resolve research integrity problems when they arise. In complex cases we will also undertake any investigation required to resolve the case.

How our Research Integrity Team works, and the process we follow when an issue has been detected on a manuscript.

Concerns

To report or comment on research integrity concerns regarding any content published by Springer Nature, please contact the relevant publishing manager or editor via the product homepage, or a member of our team below.

Meet the team

Research Integrity sho P_Chris_Graf_280x280 uld be synonymous with research best practice. We strive to implement tools, training and processes that support Research Integrity, and ultimately help make research better. That includes training for our internal and external editors; improving transparency and openness with our policies and systems; and using technology to increasingly recognise research misconduct.

Chris Graf, Director of Research Integrity

Chris leads our expert team in developing and implementing our strategy for research integrity. He also volunteers as chair of the governance board for the STM Integrity Hub, and as programme committee member for the World Conference on Research Integrity

Advisory and Assurance

We provide robust training and resources to maintain the highest standards of editorial practice. Our Codes of Conduct set the standards and expectations for all Springer Nature Editors (internal and external). These are based on guidelines and best practice recommendations issued by organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We also proactively investigate patterns of research misconduct.

Download our codes of conduct, and find other free e-learning resources on publication best practice for Editors.

The Advisory and Assurance team:

Tamara Welschot,
Head of Advisory and Assurance
Jo Appleford-Cook,
Training Manager
John Bell, Adam Rajah,
Research Integrity Advisers

Issue Handling

We handle reported issues across the whole of Springer Nature that require the input of research integrity experts.

The Issue Handling team:

Tim Kersjes,
Research Integrity Manager
Maja Choma, Pauline Starley, Erica Wilfong Boxheimer,
Senior Research Integrity Advisers
Elizabeth Debney, Svetlana Kleiner, Greta Lazutkaite, Laura Whitehead,
Research Integrity Advisers

COPE

Springer Nature and its journals are members of COPE (the Committee On Publication Ethics). COPE’s primary mission is educational; it is an advisory body, not a regulator. There are more than 12,500 COPE members from 103 countries. Springer Nature’s Research Integrity Director, Chris Graf, was one of the first co-chairs of COPE. Our Research Integrity Group works closely with COPE to help them develop new educational resources

COPE membership helps differentiate legitimate journals from the increasing number of predatory and poor-quality outlets. It is one of the indicators of quality used by important third parties such as Clarivate Analytics (for Journal Impact Factor) and indexers (e.g. Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed).

Core practices

COPE's Core Practices, set out clear guidance for publishers, including how allegations of misconduct should be handled; policies on authorship and contributorship, data availability, peer review process and ethics; and processes for complaints and appeals, managing conflict of interest/competing interest, journal management and post-publication discussion and corrections.

Guides

COPE publishes a number of guides for editors to help ensure the integrity of research publishing.

Flowcharts

COPE flowcharts offer step by step practical support on handling different aspects of publication best practice.

Reproducibility

Reproducibility is a foundation of robust research that drives research improvement and greater trust in science. Springer Nature is committed to advancing reproducibility and open research practices across our journals, for example by introducing standardised data sharing policies, and through support for protocol sharing. Through our editorial policies, publishing infrastructure and partnerships, we aim to drive positive change across the research community and in scholarly publishing.

Research data sharing

To support and incentivise data sharing, we provide a Research Data Helpdesk, standardised data policies, and actively promote the benefits of sharing research data to researchers.

Peer review and publication of code

Many Springer Nature research journals encourage researchers who submit papers that rely on bespoke software to provide the programs for peer review. A code and software submission checklist to help authors compile and present code for peer review is available.

Minimal Standards Working Group

We are participating in the development of the MDAR Framework, a harmonised approach to transparent reporting in the life sciences including aspects that are essential for better reproducibility, replicability, and improved open research practices.

Transparency

Springer Nature helps authors share their work early and widely, and is working to open up the ‘black box’ of peer review. We support preprint deposition and citation, and multiple models of peer review.

In Review

In Review enables authors to easily track the status of their manuscript while it’s out for review, as well as share it for community comment early in the editorial process.

Transparent Peer Review

Many Springer Nature journals offer transparent peer review, making peer reviewer reports and authors’ responses to these available alongside the published article.

TOP guidelines

We support the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines, supporting the implementation of better, more transparent research.

Ethics

We are committed to providing support and advice on best practice and ethical conduct in research, including initiatives to increase the diversity of our commissioned authors, peer reviewers and editorial boards. Find further information on editorial policies and standards for Springer Nature journals on our specific imprint sites.

You can view our DEI Recruitment Frameworks for EBMs and Reviewers here.