Statement on the Publishing Ethics & Integrity team at Taylor & Francis
The Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity (PEI) team plays a key role in protecting the interests of the research community and maintaining trust in the scholarly record. There has recently been misinformation shared about this team, including comments about specific named individuals.
PEI team members are required to adhere to the highest professional, ethical and legal standards, in line with Taylor & Francis’ Editorial Code of Conduct. The team’s established policies and processes adhere to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines and ensure a consistent and objective approach to ethics investigations, safeguarding confidentiality, data protection and fairness.
While Research Integrity Managers are assigned specific cases to investigate, no decision to retract a published article is ever made by one individual in the PEI team. Approval processes ensure all final decisions are reviewed and are made in agreement with a journal’s editorial team.
At recruitment, candidates for the PEI team are required to share all previous research integrity activities and all Taylor & Francis staff must declare any potential conflicts of interest that arise throughout their employment.
Colleagues in the PEI team only have access to sensitive information that’s relevant to their activities and must use it responsibly. They cannot share integrity datasets held by Taylor & Francis with external parties without authorization and do not have access to integrity datasets held by other publishers.
Taylor & Francis recognizes the vital contribution made by our dedicated PEI team through an ongoing program of training, support and oversight.
Further information