Publishing infrastructure—which includes submission and peer review platforms, production and finance systems, author dashboards, and any other underlying systems that different users interact with throughout the publishing process—is essential to publishers running their business. Well-connected publishing infrastructure enables publishers to differentiate themselves and can enhance the experience for all users—authors, reviewers, editors, and administrators. In this session, we will discuss the concept of atomizing publishing infrastructure and connecting it under a single platform, thereby enabling publishers to introduce new, innovative capabilities such as custom pre-submission checks or chosen research integrity screenings, without having to deal with constraints from legacy systems. We will hear from speakers from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the American Chemical Society (ACS), two organizations that have modernized their publishing workflows by de-coupling submissions from peer review, and connecting different systems on the ChronosHub platform, thereby unifying their user journey and maintaining operational flexibility. We will highlight successes and challenges, and discuss improvements that simplify submissions, enhance efficiency, and enable seamless integration with different peer review and other systems

Threats to research and publishing integrity have become increasingly complex over the last two decades. Bad actors are more sophisticated at circumventing established integrity checks, online networks now easily facilitate authorship and citation for sale schemes. Researchers face the challenges of a “publish or perish” system, and generative AI makes content generation easier than ever. This session aims to explore a comprehensive set of strategies from a diverse set of speakers dedicated to ensuring quality of research and trust in the integrity of the scholarly record. Building on a related 2023 session, this panel would turn its focus to how research integrity breaches are prevented at scale, rather than how they are addressed post-publication. Importantly, the elements of such a preventative strategy need to work together and cannot rely on one single approach. They include community thought leadership efforts, such as the United2Act initiative; technology that aides in early identification of broad scale integrity concerns ahead of publication; the development of new policies tailored to scale; and supporting editorial leadership in adopting standardized workflows. Maintaining the trust of readers and preventing reputational damage has never been more imperative for journal publishers, editors, and academic institutions. The audience will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges posed by systematic manipulation and the proactive and collaborative strategies underway to address them effectively.