Call for Joint Action to Resist Academic Misconduct in Chinese Library and Information Science Journals

Academic misconduct is a cancer in the academic community and a stumbling block to the development of academic prosperity. Acts of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, fraud, multiple submissions of one manuscript, data fabrication, false attribution, and ghostwriting not only damage the academic image, but also inhibit the innovative development of academia. Strengthening academic ethics, establishing a good atmosphere of integrity, resisting academic misconduct, curbing academic corruption, and building a fair, impartial, and open academic exchange ecosystem require the joint participation and efforts of the academic community, journal industry, and society as a whole. Therefore, we propose that academic journals in the field of Library and Information Science in China take positive action to jointly combat academic misconduct.

1. Deeply understand academic misconduct and its negative impact on academic development, form a consensus, consolidate forces, create an academic environment that respects academic integrity, values scientific research ethics, and resists academic misconduct, and contribute positive energy to the development of Library and Information Science academia.

2. Strengthen education and training for authors, editors, and peer reviewers, identify and recognize various forms of academic misconduct, introduce academic misconduct detection technology, strengthen the identification of academic misconduct by editorial boards and academic integrity institutions, strictly control academic misconduct in the entire editorial and publishing process, and control the publication of papers with academic misconduct.

3. Journals actively develop policies and measures to combat academic misconduct, adopt measures such as public notification on the journal and its publishing platform, public disclosure to the author's unit, limiting submissions for a certain period of time, sharing information on authors who commit academic misconduct, blacklisting authors who commit academic misconduct, establishing an author integrity database, and strengthening punishment for academic misconduct.

4. Journal editors should strengthen their sense of responsibility and mission to combat academic misconduct, value journal ethics and professional conduct, not participate in any activities that violate academic ethics, and devote themselves to the construction of academic norms. Develop guidelines that guide authors to conduct scientific and rigorous academic research and behavior, maintain a good order of scientific research, and promote the healthy development of Library and Information Science research.

Participating Journals of the 2015 Cross-Strait and Hong Kong and Macao Library and Information Science Journal Development Forum

November 6, 2015 in Zhengzhou