A Reflection on 2024
The first year of Forensic Scientometrics
FoSci: A Pilot Idea
After years immersed in the world of trust in research—wearing many hats as an academic, a collaborator with government agencies, a partner to non-profits, a start-up founder—I began to notice a recurring thread: the scattered and often isolated groups attempting to address the challenges of integrity and security in science. Yet science thrives as an interconnected forest, not as a collection of neatly separated garden trees.
By November 2023, this realization raised a pressing question: Could the individuals and organizations concerned with research integrity and security come together, not just to preserve science, but to nurture its growth for the future?
Background
The erosion of public trust in science, scientific research, and science policy threatens the acceptance and implementation of critical policy, technology innovation, clinical outcomes, and national and global economic and security interests across the spectrum of public life. Policies, tools, and common practices ensuring research integrity and security fortify this vital public trust.
Numerous concerns plague this scientific ecosystem in upholding and protecting trust in science. Here are my key concerns:
Rise of problematic publications: The amount of disinformation moving through scientific journals and conferences has risen dramatically. PaperMills, predatory journals and the like enable the promotion of people and junk science to clog the pores of knowledge.
Disinformation laundering from people, organizations, and governments pushing non-scientific agendas into scientific-looking papers. These distortions pollute the evidence-base that informs policy decisions and can undermine public trust in research.
Threat of foreign interference in federally funded research: Concerns have grown over foreign governments exploiting academia to steal intellectual property and sensitive research data from government-sponsored projects, putting national security at risk.
AI use and misuse in research: AI technology is powerful and multi-purpose. Without oversight, AI can and is being used by bad actors for unethical purposes like surveillance, social control, or weaponization surrounding science. This technological advancement allows for vast creations of believable profiles to media and scholarly manipulation.
Many disparate groups work independently to detect and, in some cases, prevent, nefarious scientific activities. While there has been an effort within sectors (e.g., publishers) to facilitate the exchange of information for lapses in research integrity, essential actors in scholarly communications have no coordinated communication approach across sectors. These key stakeholders with integrity and security expertise include researchers, independent scholars, research institutions, librarians, journalists, government officials, funders, and lawyers among others. While many of us communicate with one another, no coordinated approach to communicate and combat the proliferation of disinformation exists.
As technological capabilities advance rapidly, ensuring research is conducted ethically and securely has become increasingly important. Recent high-profile cases of research misconduct and security breaches highlight the need for the research community to come together and address these pressing issues. Currently, the primary approach to illuminate findings is through a disconnected but public forum (e.g., PubPeer, social media, RetractionWatch) from unpaid volunteers. However, this is neither sustainable nor preferred as the only solution to countering scholarly disinformation.
With a limited budget and a lot of encouragement (thank you, Dr. A.M.), we were approved to host 2-3 events. From these events and other communication, we could determine if forensics scientometrics as a discipline or field would be needed. People would need to commit to a statement and desire a more formal entity to move forward. Here is the 2024 in review.
2024 FoSci Notables
So what did we accomplish in 2024? It was an amazingly busy year. If you don’t read anything else, read the FoSci Paris Declaration — it is the culmination of this year’s work. If you want more (and to learn a bit about 2025 plans), read below.
Here are a few accomplishments to bring FoSci to life. (Note that these are the events and writings but not the applied work of the dedicated individuals.)
MARCH PrePrint on FoSci: Release of “Forensic Scientometrics — An emerging discipline to protect the scholarly record” expanding the framework and applications of forensic scientometrics.
DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2404.00478APRIL
Scholarly Kitchen Guest Post: Thought leadership article discussing the challenges and tools in forensic scientometrics.
Read it hereJUNE
Inaugural FoSci Meeting: Key strategic meeting held following the World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI) to chart the path forward for forensic scientometrics.JULY
SciFoo Presentation: Leslie McIntosh presents "Retractions, Distractions, and Information Warfare," exploring the evolving landscape of scientific retractions and misinformation.
Watch it hereAUGUST
FoSci Training Course at FSCI: Delivery of a dedicated forensic scientometrics course at the Force11 Scholarly Communication Institute (FSCI).
SEPTEMBER
FoSci Australia Meetings: Trainings and talks delivered in Darwin and Sydney.
OCTOBER
Substack Launch: Official creation of the FoSci Substack to engage audiences with investigative insights and reflections.
The Emerging Field of Forensic Scientometrics Read it here
Ancient Lessons for Modern Science Read it here
NOVEMBER
Blog Post Vanity Journals, Conflicts of Interest, and the Quest for Research Integrity
Read it hereDECEMBER
FoSci Paris
Individuals from academia, government, publishing, corporations gathering at the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) hosted by Dr Guillaume Cabanac. The two days culminated in the publication of the FoSci Paris Declaration, emphasizing the global importance of Forensic Scientometrics.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14500719
What 2025 May Bring
In 2025, FoSci will continue to expand its impact through a series of global activities. Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead:
Speaking Events: Look out for FoSci presentations at international gatherings and key conferences, where we'll share insights into known and emerging patterns of research integrity challenges.
Publications, Blogs, and Webinars will detail the innovative methods we've developed for forensic scientometrics. These will showcase tools and approaches for uncovering irregularities in the research ecosystem.
Training Across Continents: Hands-on training sessions on at least two continents will equip attendees with the skills to enhance research integrity and security.
Investigations: Our investigative efforts will inspect newly identified patterns of concern within the scholarly ecosystem, advancing the field of forensic scientometrics and providing actionable insights.
The future of FoSci holds immense promise, but realizing its full potential will require significant effort and collaboration. From global conversations to local trainings, 2025 promises to be a year of tangible impact and growth for FoSci.