Interview with Nature on their editorial process in wake of STAP

I asked Nature a half dozen questions about their editorial process. While they declined to answer any direct questions about the STAP cell paper situation, I thank them for answering these questions via a Nature spokesperson. The end result is an intriguing glimpse inside the editorial/review process at Nature.

1. Does Nature have any kind of automated (or human-based) system for checking submitted or accepted manuscripts for plagiarism? If so, when was this system instituted? If not, why not?

Nature uses plagiarism software (the CrossCheck service which uses the iThenticate software and the CrossRef database) to check all our published papers; however, the software did not detect plagiarism in this particular case. The manufacturers of the software are currently looking into this.

2. Does Nature have any kind of automated (or human-based) system for checking submitted or accepted manuscripts for image manipulation or duplication? If so, when was this system instituted? If not, why not?

Nature Publishing Group utilises tools to do randomised spot check analysis of images but we currently do not have the resources to undertake detailed image analysis on all our papers. For duplications, we do not have resources to check large numbers of figure panels against each other.   However, we are actively reviewing our policy on image checking and have decided to increase the number of checks that we undertake on Nature journal papers.  The exact number or proportion of papers that will be checked in the future is still being decided.

3. Does Nature vet potential reviewers for conflicts of interest (COI) before assigning them to manuscripts or does it rely on the reviewers to self-disclose COIs after they have been invited to be reviewers of specific manuscripts? On this page it suggests that Nature does not itself look for COIs (http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/competing.html), but rather relies on reviewers to self-disclose. What if a reviewer fails to disclose a significant COI?

Editors are well connected within the research communities that they serve and use their judgement not to request reviews from people in the same department or those who co-publish regularly.  However we cannot, of course, know if reviewers are on the same grant or who they may be consulting for, so have to rely on a system where a reviewer will make any potential COI known to us.

4. It’s been brought to my attention that while some Nature Publishing Group journals are signatories to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Nature Magazine is not. Why would Nature not be part of this group that works to make the publication process as ethical as possible? (see link here: http://publicationethics.org/category/publisher/nature-publishing-group).

Nature editors have engaged with COPE on occasion. However, they and the Chief Editors of the Nature journals have a long history of developing policies collectively for our journals – policies that are more attuned to basic research than is COPE, which has a strong clinical flavour.

5. Would a submitted patent application by an author for the technology described in a manuscript be required by Nature to be disclosed as a competing interest? If authors fail to do so, what is Nature’s policy on what happens as a result? This webpage would seem to clearly indicate that patent applications should be disclosed: http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/competing.html.

The Nature journals require authors to declare to the editors any competing financial interests in relation to the work described. As part of this policy, authors are encouraged to declare patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication. However, appreciating how much value can represent a competing interest is a subjective matter, and many authors have patent applications that do not amount to material value. In these cases, the editorial office may feel that the value is not substantive enough to justify declaration of competing interest.

6. Does Nature have a bioethics person on staff or on contract to consult with should ethical dilemmas arise during the review process?

A number of members of staff at Nature have responsibility for considering ethical dilemmas and providing advice during the review process.  We also solicit the advice of experts on subjects such as biowarfare, use of human oocytes, etc, when needed.