Creating a common understanding of research integrity between Switzerland and China

As a Swiss company operating in the global research and innovation sector, what drives Frontiers?

Stephan Kuster: Frontiers was founded as a start-up at the EPFL Innovation Park in 2007. We have grown to become the sixth-largest scientific publisher in the world, using the Open Access model and combining human expertise with AI technology in our editorial and quality control processes. From the start we’ve been driven by the mission to make all science open to boost collaboration, accelerate innovation, and let society benefit from the knowledge it helped produce. We can solve global, existential challenges with political determination, international collaboration, and scientific breakthroughs. But on all those counts, success will depend on the widespread sharing of high-quality scientific knowledge.

Swissnex in China and Frontiers joined forces in May to organize the first Sino-Swiss Workshop on Research Integrity. What is the main driver of this collaborative project?

Philippe Roesle: Swissnex in China is pursuing the strategic objective of strengthening Swiss-Sino academic research collaboration. This involves fostering and enabling mutual understanding of the research principles (such as freedom of research and freedom of expression), which form the basis of academic research. Research integrity struck us as particularly important, because with the rapid emergence and development of new technologies such as AI-powered applications like Chat-GPT, our current concepts of authorship, peer review, knowledge dissemination, and data processing are potentially under threat. If we can contribute to creating a common ground on these questions relating to research integrity, then we will have also contributed to developing Swiss-Sino collaboration.

Stephan Kuster: China and Switzerland are two global leaders in research and innovation. They are very different in scope and approach, of course, but both countries rely on their knowledge sectors for economic prosperity. And on collaboration. Research integrity and collaboration are essential ingredients for producing cutting-edge science in the two countries. Both science systems can benefit from an exchange of experiences and practices in dealing with Research Integrity.

And for us as a publisher, the integrity of the research we publish is paramount, both to the global scientific project and to our own success. We work relentlessly to maintain the quality of the research we publish.

How did you collectively bring this dialogue to the audience, and what are the key takeaways?

Libing Gu: We started by leveraging the strong network Swissnex has built in China and the collaboration with Frontiers and the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We carefully selected speakers from various backgrounds, including individuals from national agencies, publishers, institutional libraries, and universities. Topics including the role of bibliometrics and technologies in safeguarding research integrity, teaching research integrity to the next generation, and the challenges and opportunities of AI-assisted research were discussed. Representatives from all the parties stressed the importance of reliability, honesty, respect, and responsibility.

Stephan Kuster: The event underscored that scientific breakthroughs and the research underpinning them depend on a closely-knit network of different actors in the research cycle. All actors here have a role to play to maintain the integrity of the research. And when funders, research institutions, and publishers can deepen their collaboration and share best practices, they can collectively meet their responsibility. We can trust, open up, and share scientific research globally.

What is the outcome?

Philippe Roesle: The workshop’s three partner organizations – Frontiers, the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Swissnex – have jointly authored and published the outcomes from the discussions. This White Paper is publicly available and maps out where, regarding research integrity, Switzerland and China are aligned, where there are differences, and where we could resolve common challenge4s. It sets recommendations and next steps to deepen the bilateral understanding of research integrity.

What collaborations are you planning for the future?

Libing Gu: We all recognize that research integrity is a multifaceted issue with various sub-topics that require focused attention. For our next workshop, we are considering delving into a specific sub-topic, such as the transformative influence of AI on the future of research.

How does Frontiers see the value of such cooperation?

Stephan Kuster: The most striking outcomes were the realization that there is a lot of common ground and compatibility in the current approaches in China and Switzerland, as well as a common understanding that research integrity is a shared responsibility best met by collaborating between countries and actors.  

There is a growing international consensus that we need to open up science, but there is still much to do. This collaboration offered us a valuable chance to create a common cause with leading researchers and institutions in China who share and understand the open science mission.

Swissnex plays a crucial role in building bridges between Swiss actors and international partners that benefit all sides, and this workshop was a valuable example.