Journals' instructions to authors: A cross-sectional study across scientific disciplines

Mario Malički; IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg; Lex Bouter; Gerben Ter Riet

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222157

Journals' instructions to authors: A cross-sectional study across scientific disciplines

PLoS One. 2019 Sep 5;14(9):e0222157. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222157. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Mario Malički^{1

2}, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg³, Lex Bouter^{4

5}, Gerben Ter Riet^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
² ACHIEVE Centre for Applied Research, Faculty of Health, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
³ Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁴ Amsterdam UMC, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Abstract

In light of increasing calls for transparent reporting of research and prevention of detrimental research practices, we conducted a cross-sectional machine-assisted analysis of a representative sample of scientific journals' instructions to authors (ItAs) across all disciplines. We investigated addressing of 19 topics related to transparency in reporting and research integrity. Only three topics were addressed in more than one third of ItAs: conflicts of interest, plagiarism, and the type of peer review the journal employs. Health and Life Sciences journals, journals published by medium or large publishers, and journals registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) were more likely to address many of the analysed topics, while Arts & Humanities journals were least likely to do so. Despite the recent calls for transparency and integrity in research, our analysis shows that most scientific journals need to update their ItAs to align them with practices which prevent detrimental research practices and ensure transparent reporting of research.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research / standards*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Editorial Policies*
Guidelines as Topic*
Humans
Peer Review / ethics
Peer Review / methods
Peer Review / standards*
Peer Review, Research / standards*
Periodicals as Topic / standards*
Publishing
Research Report / standards*

Grants and funding

This study was a part of the Elsevier-funded project: Fostering Transparent and Responsible Conduct of Research: What can Journals do?. Details of the project are available at the project’s data repository site: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/53cskwwpdn.3. The Elsevier funding was awarded to GtR at Amsterdam University Medical Centers, location Meibergdreef, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, who in turn hired MM for a postdoc position and provided the salary for MM to work on the project. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders (other than the funder-affiliated author IJJA) had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.