The fifth edition of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing has been released by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, et WAME. Version 5.0 introduces key updates addressing AI governance, enhanced security against hijacked journals, expanded editorial independence, and revised misconduct and peer review policies.
The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing are intended as a foundation for best practice in scholarly publishing to help existing and new journals reach the best possible standards. Globally, scholarly publishing systems have adopted them as guidelines for good practice in publishing and disseminating research. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Le DOAJ, the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) are scholarly organisations that have collaborated to identify principles of transparency and best practice for scholarly publications. They were last updated in 2022.
Today, Version 5 is now available.
Key additions and differences in Version 5.0
Artificial intelligence (AI) governance:
- Author AI usage: The new principles mandate policies on how authors use AI for generating content or revisions, and affirm the consensus that AI cannot qualify as an author.
- Peer Review & Editorial AI usage: They specify transparency on whether peer reviewers and editors/editorial staff use AI or automated tools for manuscript screening, drafting reviews, or generating editorial comments.
- Content Mining & AI Training: There are recommendations that publishers should disclose policies regarding access to and the licensing of journal content by AI companies and text miners.
Enhanced hijacked journal and domain security measures:
- The new version of the Principles directly addresses the growing problem of fake or “hijacked journals,” explicitly prohibiting the copying of titles, ISSNs, and other identifying information to impersonate legitimate journals.
- It also adds a requirement that a journal identify its primary official website and that secondary/mirror sites clearly redirect to the main site.
Expanded editorial independence and integrity guidance:
- Version 5 of the Principles separates Editorial Assessment into its own dedicated section, distinct from standard peer review mechanics.
- It mandates protections against geopolitical intrusions and commercial or organisational conflicts of interest.
- Compensating editors based on article acceptance rates is prohibited.
- The principles now explicitly forbid individuals involved in article-level editorial decisions from managing payments or fee waivers.
Updated misconduct and peer review policies:
- A new addition is that there are now detailed expectations for managing self-plagiarism, text recycling, overlapping publications, preprints, and translations.
- This version of the principles clarifies processes for handling complaints, appeals, and whistleblowers, as well as instructions/training for guest editors and peer reviewers.
Reorganised structure:
- Elevates Aims & Scope and Accessibility, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (ADEI) under the main section of Journal Practices rather than embedding them under General Website presentation.
This new version of the Principles is a timely update as the topics of AI, research integrity and misconduct are being discussed at conferences, in newsletters, and in workshops. We have heard from our Indonesian colleagues that they intend to align their publication practices more closely with the Principles: the closer a journal adheres to them, the higher a rating the journal receives. COPE and WAME already use the Principles as membership requirements; each organisation has officially approved these updated Principles and is ready to apply them.
We always welcome feedback from the community and our readers so if you have any comments or questions, please either leave a comment or get in touch via helpdesk@doaj.org.
