Ensure Image Integrity. Publish with Peace of Mind.

AI-powered, automated image proofing for scientific publications to ensure research and image Integrity. Trusted by the world’s top researchers, publishers, and research institutes.

Proofig AI is licensed campus-wide at 28 universities, medical centers and research institutes in the United States, Singapore and Japan, so researchers there can use it without buying a license.

Built Researchers

NEW FROM PROOFIG AI

From Image Integrity to the Complete Manuscript Review

Meet Octym, our new platform: the image checks you know, now joined by references, statistics, methods and metadata, in one unified review. Built by the team behind Proofig AI.

Image Integrity

Manuscript page checked by Proofig AI: the review pass flags the figure

⚑Image manipulationpowered by

→

OctymPowered By Proofig AI

The same manuscript page in Octym: the review pass lights up every check

⚑Claim–citation consistency

⚑AI-generated textpowered by

⚑DOI & metadata

⚑Methods & rigor

⚑Statistical consistency

⚑Reproducibility

⚑Retracted referencespowered by

⚑Image manipulationpowered by

Trusted by Leading Institutions and Publishers

STM Associate MemberListed in the STM member directory
COPE MemberCommittee on Publication Ethics
SOC 2Independent examination of our security controls

The world’s top publishers choose Proofig AI

the Science family of journals is adopting the use of Proofig, an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered image-analysis tool, to detect altered images across all six of the journals.

H. Holden Thorp Editor-in-Chief,

read the full article

Our Solutions for Safeguarding Image Integrity

Proofig AI delivers scientific image quality assurance for publishers and researchers. Our AI-powered platform pinpoints image manipulation, duplication, plagiarism, and AI-generated images with exceptional precision, preserving accuracy, trust, and research credibility. Our image-plagiarism detection compares manuscript visuals against more than 155 million PubMed Open Source Database images, the industry’s largest image-plagiarism database.

Image Manipulation Detection

Detection of Alteration or Manipulation within a Single Sub-Image, including Cloning, Editing, Deletion, and Splicing.

Duplication
& Reuse Analysis

Detection of duplication or reuse within a single manuscript, including images, graphs, charts, diagrams, and plots. Supports scaling, rotation, flipping, full overlap, partial overlap, and other irregularities.

AI-Generated Image Identification

Detection of AI-Generated Images. Identifies images created by the most widely used generative models, with continuous updates for new models, across six key image types: microscopy, histology, cell plates, animal imaging, medical scans, and western blots and gels.

Image Plagiarism Checker

Detection of reused manuscript visuals from published literature using the industry’s largest image-plagiarism database, with more than 155 million PubMed Open Source Database images.

My Database
Self-Plagiarism Control

Detection of Self-Plagiarism through Comparison with a Personalized Repository of Prior Research. Prevents Reuse of a Researcher’s Own Previously Published Images.

Why Image Integrity Matters

Safeguard research integrity—image issues can derail a researcher’s career, undermine a journal’s credibility, and leave institutions facing retraction costs that exceed one million dollars.

2.5M

Papers Published / Year

Global scholarly output

20–35%

Papers with Image Issues

Flagged for
duplication / manipulation

$1M+

Cost of One Retraction

Investigations & legal fees

Protect authors, editors, and institutions.
proactive screening prevents reputational harm and million-dollar retractions.

Sources: (1) STM Report • (2) Jana Christopher • (3) Michalek AM et al.

Why Choose Proofig AI

Discover how Proofig AI enhances editorial and author workflows, safeguards integrity, and accelerates review timelines.

Accelerate
Your Workflow

Analyze full manuscripts in minutes with instant AI image detector support.

Reduce Oversight
& Ensure Integrity

AI-powered screening minimizes missed errors while maintaining the highest standards for research images.

Prevent Rejections & Retractions

Catch issues like image manipulation or duplication early, before they jeopardize your publication or career.

Guaranteed Confidentiality

Secure, private scanning with zero data reuse or exposure.

Built by Researchers
for Researchers

Proofig AI was built to help researchers protect their work and meet publication and scientific standards.

Proprietary Features
You Won’t Find Elsewhere

Benefit from powerful capabilities and proprietary features available only in Proofig AI.

Proven Performance at Scale in Image Integrity

Proofig AI image detector has been validated on large real-world datasets, delivering consistent, high-precision results across hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and millions of sub-images. It maintains exceptionally low false-positive rates, even in complex screening scenarios.

Sub-images Processed

Manuscripts Scanned

Pages Analyzed

Institutions Represented on Our Platform

Image Extraction Accuracy

Detection Precision: 99.4%
OCR Precision: 96.8%

AI-Generated Images Detection Benchmarks

Microscopy

True Positives: 95.41%
False Positives: 0.0093%

Dataset: 200K real images

Western Blot

True Positives: 97.68%
False Positives: 0.0020%

Dataset: 250K real images

Proofig AI Press Coverage & Industry Recognition

Discover how leading publications and science platforms are highlighting Proofig AI’s role in strengthening image integrity in academic publishing.

The Science family of journals is adopting the use of Proofig AI

Science explains why its journals adopted Proofig to ensure figures are trustworthy before publication.

Nature highlights Proofig’s breakthroughs in spotting AI-generated images

Nature reports how Proofig’s tools detect AI-made scientific images with exceptional accuracy, outperforming human experts.

The Scientist shows how AI tools like Proofig help strengthen research image integrity

The Scientist explores how AI tools are helping detect manipulated images and protect scientific trust.

Scholarly Kitchen features Proofig AI’s vision for the future of image integrity

Proofig AI’s founder explains why reliable image checks are essential for journals, institutions, and researchers.

AI and the future of image integrity in scientific publishing

Science Editor features expert insight on how AI tools are helping journals detect image duplications and manipulations.

Expert Reviews

Researchers, journal editors, and image integrity experts explain why Proofig AI is their trusted partner for image screening and review.

“Image integrity issues in the scientific literature are more prevalent than many readers would expect, and notably so in the life sciences. In recent years, an increasing number of scientific journals have adopted pre-publication image screening. Expertise in this area has developed, whilst the need for reliable and user-friendly automated tools to screen large volumes of image data at scale has grown accordingly. I have found Proofig to be impressively strong in detecting duplications and part-duplications in Western blots and microscopy images. It works fairly quickly and reliably across several figures, whilst being robust to rotation, flipping, resizing, and colour changes. The makers recently also added Flow Cytometry plots to their catalogue of screen-able image types. The system automatically generates a report summarizing individual, selectable findings in a clear manner, and users can also re-visit previously screened items in their own database. Whilst it remains essential for an experienced user to verify and interpret individual findings, I believe Proofig is a very valuable tool for duplication detection, and suited to effectively assist journals’ image integrity screening routines”.

Jana Christopher

Image Data Integrity Analyst

"Our Proofig-based image integrity workflow has proven invaluable in identifying problematic figures so that editors can take appropriate action prior to acceptance".

Dr. Daniel S. Evanko, PhD

American Association for Cancer Research-AACR Director of Journal Operations and Systems

"As an additional QA step, we run all of our manuscripts through Proofig to check images for any inadvertent errors that may have occurred"

Professor Bruce Beutler, M.D.

Director, Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, UT Southwestern - 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

"Significant damage is caused by image duplication even when they are innocent mistakes. Therefore, I'm happy to provide my department with the peace of mind that comes with knowing our manuscripts' images have been properly verified pre-publication using Proofig, and only manuscripts with no mistakes will follow for publication".

Professor Ofer Mandelboim

Head of the Department of Immunology and Cancer Research Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, Israel

“The accuracy of scientific data presented in publications is vital for the development of better technology and medicine to support our society. I found that Proofig can precisely identify mistakes in manuscripts in a fine resolution and in a short time. This software should become a standard of work in the scientific publication pipeline to produce the knowledge society is striving for”.

Dr. Erez Pery

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Scientist

"I am so excited to follow the rapid evolution of Proofig for research needs. It is a great tool used in my lab for internal quality control prior to publication. Proofig is a terrific tool drawing the new standard for evaluating the authenticity of manuscripts and I am sure that journal editors will also benefit from using this exciting innovation".

Dr. Aviv Domvrovsky

Associate Editor Phytoparasitica Springer

"Image checks are fundamental to assessing the integrity of a paper. However, identifying image duplications manually is extremely difficult and time-consuming, especially for biomedical papers which can have hundreds of sub-images. Proofig has been a game-changer for us, greatly reducing the overall time taken to check a paper and, most crucially, giving us peace of mind that a duplication hasn’t been missed”.

Dr. Lisa Clancy

Research Integrity Manager at Compuscript Limited and Coordinating Editor at ACS Central Science

From Upload to Report in 4 Easy Steps

Proofig AI’s intuitive workflow makes screening fast and effortless. Upload a single manuscript or several at once, auto-analyze all figures, review flagged results, and export a detailed PDF.

Upload your manuscript

Step 1

Step 2

Proofig scans all figures automatically

Review flagged issues with forensic tools

Step 3

Step 4

Export report for submission or internal use

Frequently asked questions

What is Proofig AI, and what does it check in a research paper?

Proofig AI is the image integrity platform trusted by the Science family of journals, and it pioneered automated pre-publication image screening. Upload one PDF or Word file and it checks every figure for duplication and reuse, manipulation and AI-generated images, and compares each visual against the industry’s largest image-plagiarism database, with more than 155 million PubMed Open Source Database images. Individual researchers, publishers, institutions and ethics committees get results in minutes and review every finding themselves. Proofig AI’s RefGuard checks references, and Octym reviews the entire paper with 26 checks.

Do leading scientific journals screen their submissions with Proofig AI?

Yes, leading journals screen submissions with Proofig AI, the image integrity platform trusted by the Science family of journals across all six titles. Publishers that trust Proofig AI include Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, SAGE, the Royal Society of Chemistry and AACR, and MDPI signed a multi-year deal. Editorial offices can upload many manuscripts at once or screen inside Aries Editorial Manager, and every finding is flagged for your review.

Can Proofig AI spot AI-generated images in a manuscript, and how reliable is it?

Yes, Proofig AI detects AI-generated images across six categories: microscopy, histology, cell plates, animal imaging, medical scans, and Western blots and gels. Proofig AI’s continuously updated models record 95.41% true positives and 0.0093% false positives on the microscopy benchmark (dataset: 200K real images), and 97.68% true positives and 0.0020% false positives on the Western blot benchmark (dataset: 250K real images). You can investigate every flagged image with forensic tools before you decide.

Should I check my manuscript with Proofig AI or Octym?

Choose Proofig AI’s image integrity platform when you need every figure checked, and Octym when you want the entire paper reviewed. Proofig AI screens every figure for duplication and reuse, manipulation, image plagiarism and AI-generated images, including duplication and plagiarism in graphs, charts and plots, with results in minutes. Octym, from the same team, reviews the entire paper with 26 checks: the same image checks plus references, statistics, methods and metadata, in one report. To check only the references, use RefGuard, Proofig AI’s reference integrity product.

Can I trust the results of a Proofig AI image check?

Yes, Proofig AI has been validated on large real-world datasets spanning hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and millions of sub-images. With 250K+ Manuscripts Scanned, it is a leading image integrity platform. Proofig AI’s results are signals, not verdicts: every finding is flagged for your review using forensic tools and the Review Assistant, and that reviewer decides what goes into the final PDF report.

Does Proofig AI only check images?

No, Proofig AI checks images, references and the entire paper. Its image integrity platform screens figures for duplication and reuse, manipulation, image plagiarism and AI-generated images. RefGuard, Proofig AI’s reference integrity product, checks the reference list for retracted papers, hallucinated references and citations that do not support their claims. Octym, from the same team, reviews the entire paper with 26 checks, images and references included. Every finding is a signal for you to review.

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