More safeguards and stronger journal policies are needed to curb the problem, say authors of analysis on publication trends.
The pressure to publish in high-impact journals is leading to unethical and possibly even illegal practices that threaten the integrity of palaeontological research, two early-career researchers argue in a forthright analysis.
This piece published in Nature and the research it reports suggest that pressure for academics publish, the biases of publications and the arc towards dinosaurs and amber, are driving shonky research in palaeontology. Work that breaches standards of integrity and possibly the law. The criteria that we use to venerate and celebrate research need to change. A career well spent is one that contributes to research culture in an institution one that respects cultures, local laws and feeds into an excellent community of practice. Institutional, national and international research integrity standards need to evolve to be fit for the future that we want editorial practice needs to change.
The pair looked at publication trends in palaeontology across five decades and at news and social-media coverage of palaeontology studies published in high-profile journals between 2015 and 2020. They argue that a publication bias towards research into exceptional, newsworthy fossils over classic taxonomic and systematic work “can not only encourage authors to commit various transgressions, but is also a major obstacle to addressing gaps in the literature”.
Raja-Schoob and Dunne draw a distinction between palaeontology-specific journals, which typically have a Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of less than 5, and more generalist, high-profile journals such as Nature and Science, which have JIFs in excess of 60. These prestigious journals publish a tiny proportion of all palaeontology papers, the authors’ analysis shows, but such papers score highly when researchers’ work is assessed by hiring managers, peers or grant committees.
