However, the emergence of peer review manipulation, manuscript fraud, and unethical authorship practice, as well as increased pressure to publish that can lead to rushed publication or unforced errors, is undermining the academic publication standards. We are in a moment of uncertainty, as research volume grows, peer reviewers struggle under the weight of their evaluations, and public scrutiny continues to rise.
ScholarOne Manuscripts has facilitated the editorial and review process for twenty-five years, and from our position at the forefront of publishing technology, we’ve been producing and refining research integrity solutions to support editors and peer reviewers for at least a decade. Today, I share updates on one of the first tools and how it has evolved over the years: the Unusual Activity Detector (UAD).
The Past: early days in monitoring integrity.
Maintaining research integrity best practices did not develop overnight. More than a decade ago, the need to investigate potential compromises to these foundational principles had already become evident. Instances ranged from individuals seeking personal gain to the early signs of the widespread fraud we see today.In 2015, ScholarOne took a pioneering step in addressing misconduct and fraud in the peer review process by developing the Unusual Activity Detector (UAD) to bridge the gap in identifying suspicious manuscript manipulations. It marked a shift toward a more cautious approach—moving away from assuming the trustworthiness of all stakeholders and instead actively flagging suspicious activities for immediate attention.
Greg Mowery, software engineer lead at ScholarOne and the developer of the UAD tool, recalls: "I was speaking with Chris Heid (now Head of Product at PLOS) about an incident in 2015 where a professor was caught reviewing his own paper using a bogus email and account. I said we could catch that. He dared me to try. The rest is history."
In the early stages, even customers were skeptical about the accuracy of UAD data. Mowery remarks, "There was a mix of apprehension and optimism. It was challenging to convince some clients that the data was both accurate and actionable."
At the time, few realized that questionable research data was on the verge of becoming a widespread issue.
The Present: How the tool works today.
ScholarOne introduced the Unusual Activity Detector to combat these issues. This powerful tool flags irregularities in manuscript submissions, peer review activity, and editorial workflows.Today, the UAD in ScholarOne Manuscripts identifies anomalous behaviors and suspicious patterns across multiple aspects during submission and review processes.
Since its introduction to the market back in 2017, the Unusual Activity Detector has helped:
- Journals identify fake reviewers before fraudulent reviews are submitted.
- Publishers detect systematic abuse such as coordinated fake submissions.
- Editors save time by reducing manual checks and focusing only on flagged cases.
As we mentioned at the start of this blog, the quantity of scientific research is having a direct impact on the pressure cooker of scholarly publishing. In 2024 alone, the UAD flagged 939,331 manuscripts as low, medium, or high risk. It stopped the publication of 68,825 manuscripts that were flagged as high risk.
The Future: What’s next?
These integrity issues have threatened the credibility of individual research studies, damaged reputations, and undermined the overall trust in the research community. To address these challenges, it is crucial for publishers to implement effective strategies for detecting and preventing unethical practices. Additionally, system providers must continue developing and enhancing integrity tools to safeguard scholarly publishing. We all have a role to play in this effort.With the upcoming ScholarOne release on March 25, 2025, we are introducing improvements to the Unusual Activity Detector (UAD) based on user feedback. Integrity managers and editorial office assistants have expressed appreciation for the UAD while also identifying areas for improvement, which we addressed in late 2024. The ScholarOne and Silverchair teams remain dedicated to delivering high-value solutions and continuously enhancing our offerings.
ScholarOne is committed to the fight against peer review manipulation, manuscript fraud, and unethical authorship practices by providing our customers with valuable tools and innovative workflows. We are building a robust research integrity strategy to uphold trust and certainty within the scholarly publishing community.
A special thank you to Greg Mowery, ScholarOne’s software engineer lead, for pioneering and delivering the first ScholarOne-owned integrity tool in the market!