Tag: Ethics In Scholarly Communication

Paper mills

Photo showing several pieces of shredded colored paper.

Paper mills have begun to produce and sell large numbers of low-quality articles with false or plagiarized data. And, more recently, they are trying to entice journal editors by offering generous sums in exchange for the rapid acceptance of articles and by offering questionable editors and reviewers for special issues. Read More →

The influence of implicit biases on the adoption of DEIA principles

Collage made up of overlapping silhouettes of busts on colorful paper

Adherence to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) has been hampered by implicit biases, relating to implicit memory, which influences actions and decisions unconsciously. Progress involves institutional commitment, changing the culture, setting goals, and developing operational strategies. Read More →

Large Language Publishing [Originally published in the Upstream blog in January/2024]

Superimposed photograph of several books with the pages folded into an airplane shape on an infinite black background.

The New York Times ushered in the New Year with a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. OpenAI and its Microsoft patron had, according to the filing, stolen “millions of The Times’ copyrighted news articles, in-depth investigations, opinion pieces, reviews, how-to guides,” and more—all to train OpenAI’s LLMs. Read More →

Does Artificial Intelligence have hallucinations?

Neural net completion for "artificial intelligence", as done by DALL-E mini.

AI applications have demonstrated impressive capabilities, including the generation of very fluent and convincing responses. However, LLMs, chatbots, and the like, are known for their ability to generate non-objective or nonsensical statements, more commonly known as “hallucinations.” Could it be that they are on drugs? Available in Spanish only. Read More →

Can AI do reliable review scientific articles?

Image of two overlapping screens with words on a purple background generated by Google DeepMind

The cost of reviewing scientific publications, both in terms of money and time spent, is growing to unmanageable proportions with current methods. It is necessary to use AI as a trust system and thus free up human resources for research tasks. It would be important for SciELO to progressively incorporate AI modules for evaluation in its preprints server as a new advance and development of the technologies it manages. Available in Spanish only. Read More →

Research and scholarly communication, AI, and the upcoming legislation

AI risk pyramid: at the bottom of the pyramid is minimal risk, above is limited risk, followed by high risk and at the top of the pyramid is unacceptable risk.

Can AI be used to generate terrorist “papers”, spread deadly viruses, or learn how to make nuclear bombs at home? Is there legislation that can protect us? It looks like international regulation is on the way. Read More →

AI: How to detect chatbox texts and their plagiarism

Plagiarism diagram. The diagram consists of a drawing of three sheets of paper with text, one next to the other, followed below by a red arrow pointing down to a sheet of paper with text on which some passages are highlighted in red.

The ChatGPT-3 application is consulted on four topics under discussion for the production of academic texts acceptable to scientific journal editors. Each question is followed by the answer given by the OpenAI application itself and then by our evaluation, consulting recent sources published on the Internet. Finally, some (human) reflections are presented which, like all things, are subject to discussion or changes brought about by advances in technology. Read More →

ChatGPT and other AIs will transform all scientific research: initial reflections on uses and consequences – part 2

Image of an orange and pink coral-like formation, generated by Google DeepMind

In this second part of the essay, we seek to present some risks that arise particularly in the use of generative AI in the scientific field and in academic work. Although all the problems have not been fully mapped out, we have tried to offer initial reflections to support and encourage debate. Read More →

ChatGPT and other AIs will transform all scientific research: initial thoughts on uses and consequences – part 1

Image of a silhouette of a human head made up of colored threads generated by Google DeepMind

We discuss some possible consequences, risks, and paradoxes of the use of AIs in research, such as potential deterioration of research integrity, possible changes in the dynamics of knowledge production and center-periphery relations in the academic environment. We concluded by calling for an in-depth dialog on regulation and the creation of technologies adapted to our needs. Read More →

Revista DADOS creates special editorial office on replicability

Photograph of a hand holding a cassette tape against a blue background.

As of this year, Revista DADOS will have an editorial department specifically set up to deal with issues of the replicability of its articles. This commitment included a break with essayism in favor of a more systematic research view, which led to the publication of manuscripts strongly supported by empirical evidence. Read More →

Artificial Intelligence and research communication

Watercolor of Alan Turing generated by Midjourney AI

Are chatbots really authors of scientific articles? Can they be legally responsible, make ethical decisions? What do scientific societies, journal editors and universities say? Can their results be included in original scientific articles? Based on recent contributions hereby presented, we’ll be publishing posts that will try to answer these questions and any new ones that arise. Read More →

Shuffle the cards and deal again

Photograph of a check mark made up of several red plastic "X's" on a black background.

Research must be well planned, carried out correctly and reported in a clear and transparent way, as the reliability of the results depends on the rigor of the experimental design. However, in the published reports, there seems to be a lack of commitment by those responsible for assessing the quality of the research. Experts pointed out that the current incentive structures in research institutions do not sufficiently encourage researchers to invest in solidity and transparency, instead encouraging them to optimize their aptitude in the fight for publications and grants. Over the past decade, large-scale replication studies have shown that reproducibility is far from favorable in many scientific fields, and questionable research practices are becoming more prevalent. Clearly something is not working in the scientific enterprise. Read More →

Open Science in the Humanities

Piece for the Open Science in the Humanities event with portraits of all speakers.

Following the event Open Science in the Humanities, organized by SciELO in partnership with the representatives of the area in the Advisory Committee, Luiz Augusto Campos and Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda, a brief description and balance of the main thematic axes debated was made, emphasizing at the end the importance of dialogue between the editors of the different subareas, establishing interchanges, elucidating doubts and highlighting strengths and weaknesses in the challenges of implementing open science, according to the consideration of the specificities and diversity of the contemplated journals. Read More →

Open Code Community: an open platform for research code sharing

The sharing of research codes is a common practice among members of the scientific community. However, such sharing is usually restricted to members of the academy itself. Here comes the Open Code Community project, which seeks to integrate academic and market participants in the sharing of research codes. Read More →

How the rhetoric of excellence influences research evaluation

Lineart Flat e-learning website hero image vector illustration. Online education knowledge concept. Laptop, profile of school studding graduation certificate, first place medal on screen.

Academic institutions advertise their teaching and research programs associated with prominent positions in university rankings, or names that are synonymous with success, prestige, and reputation. This post reviews an article that shows how the “rhetoric of excellence” is used in the academic world and favors the lack of reproducibility, fraud and the ineffective distribution of research grants and proposes strategies to overcome it. Read More →