Abstract
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 1 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. Yet, one area of science is strangely devoid of independent checks - academic publishing. 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.
NETL
NSTL