Proofig AI for Research Ethics Committees

The benefits of automated image integrity detection software for scientific publishing , Research Ethics Committee and enhancing AI literature reviews

A captivating set of four microscopy images showcasing the discovery of manipulated images through cropping and scaling. Each image presents microscopic specimens that have undergone deliberate alterations, involving both cropping and scaling operations. These image manipulations raise questions about the motivations and potential implications behind such modifications. These visual findings highlight the significance of meticulous analysis and accurate representation in microscopy studies, ensuring the integrity and reliability of scientific data. Understanding the reasons and consequences of image cropping and scaling in microscopy can contribute to advancements in imaging techniques and enhance our understanding of biological structures.

How does Proofig benefit Research Ethics Committees and align with the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines ?

As one Journal of Clinical Investigation editorial clearly states; “Data accuracy forms the foundation of the scientific enterprise, and without it, the enterprise risks crumbling” (1) .

According to leading image data integrity analyst Jana Christopher, despite the importance of image integrity, the percentage of manuscripts flagged for image-related problems ranges from 20 to 35 percent (2).

As senior officials entrusted with managing the integrity of your university, you are concerned with maintaining the highest level of accuracy and professionalism in all your faculty members’ scientific publications. Proofig AI helps you achieve this by aligning with the principles set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), ensuring that your institution adheres to internationally recognized ethical standards.Proofig AI’s commitment to integrity extends beyond research ethics committees, offering tailored solutions for researchers , publishers , and research institutions .
Proofig AI assists researchers in performing precise AI literature reviews, enhancing the quality and credibility of their work.

Proofig’s solution offers integrity officials:

Assistance in conducting investigations efficiently
Accurate analysis of manuscripts, reducing human error
Automatic analysis of many images and manuscripts, providing reports in minutes
Automate the review process to streamline image integrity checks in scientific papers
Significant saving in time & cost
Fully confidential results

A fascinating collection of four microscopy images unveiling manipulated images through cropping and flipping. Each image showcases microscopic specimens that have undergone intentional alterations, involving both cropping and horizontal flipping. These image manipulations raise intriguing questions about the motives behind such modifications and their potential implications. These visual findings underscore the importance of meticulous analysis and accurate representation in microscopy studies, ensuring the integrity and reliability of scientific data. Understanding the reasons and consequences of image cropping and flipping in microscopy can deepen our understanding of biological structures and contribute to advancements in microscopic imaging techniques.

How does it work?

Proofig AI leverages advanced machine learning techniques and an extensive database to ensure the integrity of scientific images by identifying various forms of potential image issues, assisting Research Ethics Committees in their efforts to define ethical behaviour. Additionally, Proofig AI aids in conducting comprehensive automated image AI literature reviews, providing reliable data for informed decision-making.

With Proofig, integrity officials can confidentially and automatically check each manuscript, empowering them to make decisions in four simple steps:

1. Upload Your Manuscript

Officials begin by uploading their PDF manuscript to the Proofig platform. The system extracts all images and sub-images from the manuscript for analysis.

2. Analyze for Integrity Issues

Proofig AI analyzes the manuscript for multiple types of image issues:

Detection of Reuse from Published Manuscripts: By accessing PubMed’s Source database, which contains tens of millions of images, Proofig can identify reused sub-images, commonly known as plagiarism.
Duplication and Reuse Within a Manuscript: Proofig identifies duplication or reuse of sub-images within the same manuscript. This includes detecting instances of scaling, rotation, flipping, full and partial overlap, ensuring each image is unique.
Alteration and Manipulation: The system detects alterations or manipulations within a single sub-image, such as cloning, editing, deletion, and splicing, ensuring the authenticity of each sub-image.
Detection of AI-Generated Images: Proofig AI identifies images created by the most widely used AI model. Proofig is committed to continually evolving and expanding its feature set to include new models, ensuring we stay ahead in the race to protect scientific integrity. Take Our Quiz To Test Yourself

3. Validate and Review Results

Officials can check the detected sub-images and validate the results. They can then review any suspected issues flagged by Proofig AI.
The system highlights suspected integrity issues, allowing officials to add only relevant findings to the final report. Proofig also provides advanced further investigation tools to help users make well-informed decisions.

4. Generate a Comprehensive Report

Proofig AI processes the selections and produces a comprehensive report in minutes. The report includes both a page view of the suspected issue and a detailed view of each confirmed issue.
The report helps in ensuring the integrity of the scientific images before publication.

Re-Define Ethical Behaviour in Scientific Publishing

Ethical behaviour in scientific publishing is evolving with the advancement of technology. Proofig AI is at the forefront of this transformation, providing automated AI-based tools that detect potential image integrity issues. By utilizing Proofig AI, researchers and Research Ethics Committees can define ethical behaviour more precisely, ensuring that publications meet the highest ethical standards.

Traditional methods rely heavily on manual checks, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error. Proofig AI redefines ethical behaviour by setting a new standard in scientific integrity, offering solutions that are much more efficient than the human eye. As a result, adopting such technologies is becoming essential in upholding ethical practices in the scientific community.

Furthermore, Proofig AI supports researchers in conducting accurate ai literature review , enhancing the quality and credibility of their work. By integrating advanced AI tools into the publication process, Proofig AI helps advance scientific integrity and aligns with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Data Privacy and Security

At Proofig, we prioritize the privacy and security of our users' data. We want to make it unequivocally clear that:

Training Data: Our system is trained exclusively using material we have developed and open-source content designated for commercial use, ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.
User Data: We do not use any data from user-uploaded manuscripts to train our models or algorithms. User-uploaded data is analyzed solely to detect image integrity issues within the submitted manuscript and generate the corresponding report.
Confidentiality: All analyses are conducted on private, secure servers. Your manuscripts and reports remain fully confidential and are not used for any other purposes.

By adhering to these strict data privacy and security protocols, Proofig ensures that your data is protected while maintaining the highest standards of image integrity analysis.

Proofig AI is trusted by leading publishers, research institutes, and researchers

Discover how Proofig AI is advancing Research integrity on our homepage

“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

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