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 I 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.
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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.
I propose that academic journals submit to independent regulation through an international quality-management standard, known as ISO 9001. Organizations certified as ISO-9001-compliant must demonstrate operations that are customer-focused, committed to continual improvement and underpinned by systematic management approaches and evidence-based decision-making.
ISO 9001 is a widely adopted standard — one million companies and organizations in more than 180 countries are certified, including suppliers of cell lines and other reagents. It makes sense for journals to meet the same standard, sending a clear signal that they embrace the same regulations as many authors and readers do.
Why would it help? Journals and publishers are currently incentivized to meet authors’ expectations — but ISO 9001 compliance means also prioritizing the needs of readers. This shift in mindset could lead to more quality papers and faster corrections, as well as to journal subscriptions and article processing charges (APCs) delivering better value for money.
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It could add weight to existing regulations and incentives. For instance, when journals apply for membership of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) — which is seen as a mark of trustworthiness — they are assessed, to see whether they adhere to the organization’s principles. Journal indexing services remove journals from their indexes if quality criteria aren’t met. Yet, it’s rare that journals are de-indexed or subject to COPE sanctions. The reasons for de-indexing a journal are not always clear or disclosed. And sometimes links between these organizations and publishers leave room for the perception of possible conflicts of interests around such decisions.
