Scholarly Publishing Standards Project
A research and standards development initiative producing editorial standards, publication ethics guidance, peer review frameworks, and scholarly communication benchmarks for academic journals and publishers.
About the Project
The Scholarly Publishing Standards Project is a combined research and standards development initiative led by the Center for Scholarly Publishing Studies. Its core purpose is to produce practical, evidence-based standards and guidance documents that journal editors, publishers, and scholarly institutions can use to improve the quality, transparency, and ethical integrity of their publishing practices.
The project takes a research-grounded approach to standards development: standards and guidance documents are developed on the basis of systematic reviews of existing practices, analysis of current guidelines from bodies such as COPE, ICMJE, and WAME, and empirical research into the needs and challenges of journal editors and publishers.
All project outputs are made available under open access terms. The project welcomes feedback and input from journal editors, publishers, and researchers worldwide, and may be adapted for specific disciplinary or regional contexts.
Planned Standards Documents
Editorial Standards
Standards for editorial scope, editorial board composition, editorial decision processes, manuscript tracking, and editorial transparency.
Peer Review Standards
Standards for peer review model selection, reviewer selection, reviewer guidance, review timelines, and handling of conflicts of interest in review.
Publication Ethics Standards
Standards for authorship, plagiarism handling, data fabrication and falsification, retraction policies, and editorial misconduct procedures.
Open Access Standards
Standards for open access policy disclosure, APC transparency, licensing, rights retention, self-archiving rights, and preprint policies.
Research Data Standards
Standards for data availability statements, data sharing, supplementary material, and research data management in journal publishing.
Metadata and Discoverability
Standards for article-level metadata, DOI registration, ORCID integration, funder acknowledgment, and abstract and keyword quality.