Put pressure on publishers to follow best practice - external regulation is the answer

"Hospitals, airlines and drug manufacturers are subject to oversight by external regulators, to ensure that consumers receive safe and high-quality services and products. In science too, regulators check that products from equipment manufacturers and reagent suppliers are fit for purpose. When I oversaw laboratories that used genetically modified organisms, the labs needed external certification to show that they had safe handling and storage processes. There's nothing like knowing that an inspector could show up unannounced to focus people on safety standards."

"In my view, external oversight could push journals and publishers to work harder to reduce integrity issues that are harming the scientific literature. These range from a lack of timely corrections and retractions for faulty papers, to a flood of manuscripts produced by artificial intelligence and paper-mill businesses that churn out fake or low-quality papers and sell authorships. I propose that academic journals submit to independent regulation through an international quality-management standard, known as ISO 9001."

Many sectors use external regulators to ensure safety and quality; science benefits from regulators that certify equipment and reagents. Academic publishing lacks comparable independent oversight. Lack of oversight contributes to integrity problems such as slow corrections and retractions, a surge of manuscripts produced by artificial intelligence, and paper mills that generate fake or low-quality papers and sell authorships. Requiring journals and publishers to comply with ISO 9001 quality-management standards would mandate customer-focused operations, continual improvement, systematic management, and evidence-based decision-making. ISO 9001 is widely adopted worldwide, and certification could shift incentives to prioritize readers and improve correction processes.

Read at Nature