Research Integrity Adviser

Job Title: Associate Research Integrity Adviser
Location: Pune
Reports to: Research Integrity Manager
About Springer Nature
Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians, and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms, and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 180 years, our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities, and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood, and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow.
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About the Brand
The goal of the Publishing Performance and Intelligence Group (PP&I) is to help deliver next generation digital publishing at Springer Nature and, as a result, grow the number of published articles, especially in Open Access (OA). Working closely with the Journals Group, Production, Technology, Marketing and Customer Services, we contribute to a wide variety of support work. This includes increasing the number of transfers of articles between journals, the commissioning of new collections and strengthening editor engagement, as well as supporting and enhancing the end-to-end publishing process
About The Role
Research integrity and publication ethics are at the heart of everything we do. Springer Nature strives to share outstanding and robust research. With the help of our external academic editors and peer reviewers, we aim to publish high-quality research that the research community can rely on. That is why Springer Nature is investing heavily in research integrity. We take a positive and proactive approach to preventing and addressing potential research integrity concerns, both by investing in technology, and by investing in our industry-leading team of research integrity experts. Springer Nature’s Research Integrity Group (RIG) supports all Springer Nature journals, books and databases in preventing and addressing concerns about research integrity and other breaches of publication ethics. We investigate research integrity cases and provide best practice action plans to ensure that we maintain the integrity of the published record.
As Research Integrity Adviser, you will be part of the growing Resolutions team in RIG. In this role you investigate and resolve research integrity concerns in the published record, to ensure that cases are investigated and managed in line with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The cases can range from simple plagiarism and authorship disputes to more complicated data integrity concerns in large cases. You are resilient and can work under pressure: the research integrity cases you are working can be at high stakes, with multiple stakeholders involved. Despite the pressure you ensure that you keep assessing risk, work with the relevant colleagues to mitigate these risks and correct the literature where this is needed.
This is a unique opportunity to step into a new role for someone who is keen to step into research integrity and wants to develop themselves further. You will be part of a growing and industry-leading research integrity team. Doing this job at Springer Nature means you can make a difference where it matters.
Roles Responsibilities
Rapidly triage and evaluate research integrity and publication ethics cases from any journal, book or other Springer Nature product, with the ability to assess potential legal and reputational risk for all stakeholders
Investigate complex and sensitive research integrity cases using a wide variety of tools to assess concerns raised by internal and external stakeholders
Determine, in conjunction with inhouse editors and external Editors-in-Chief whether concerns with the published literature undermine the reliability of the published record and recommend action where appropriate
Using a wide suite of in-house and external investigative tools and detectors to assess and validate research integrity concerns.
Provide best-practice advice and action plans for resolution of cases to in-house staff and external editors.
Understand and express complex ethics concepts and cases in a clear and concise manner; in writing, in person and via phone/video call, to inhouse editors and external Editor-in-Chiefs
Carefully manage and resolve conflict situations between stakeholders on a research integrity cases.
Maintain a strong understanding of the evolving publication ethics landscape, identifying new types of issues, and contributing to policy development to address emergent needs, contribute to continuously improving workflows.
Ensure that your work and advice complies with relevant Springer Nature policies, COPE guidelines and industry best-practice;
With the assistance of the Research Integrity Manager, manage a high volume workload to meet targets, rapidly reprioritizing as urgent issues arise;
Manage and resolve multiple large scale investigations concurrently together with supporting team members
Project manage individual and large cases with the Research Integrity Support Team and be responsible for driving these towards resolution following Standard Operating Procedures and meeting Key Performance Indicators.
Keep case files, project plans and statistics meticulously organized and up-to-date, and contribute to reporting;
Initiate, manage and contribute to projects in the Research Integrity Group that contribute to the team's objectives
Contribute research integrity expertise to the development of research integrity tools
Contribute to other tasks and projects related to ensuring compliance with ethical policies/guidelines (e.g. policy and technology development, contributing to research projects, auditing journals).
Make recommendations for continuous improvement of workflows and tool to accelerate case resolution.
Contribute to the development of research integrity training materials for inhouse staff and externals editors.
Provide remote or onsite presentations and workshops on research integrity to inhouse editorial staff
Represent SNRIG externally and promote its work, (e.g. writing blog posts, attending industry events and editorial board meetings);
Proactively contribute to meetings and commit to completing actions assigned to you;
Suggesting and taking part in relevant projects contributing to your personal development and team mission/objectives
Skills, Experience and Qualifications:
Essential:
Educated to graduate level in STEM, HSS, publishing, research ethics or a related field; advanced degree or equivalent professional experience desirable.
Demonstrable knowledge of academic publishing, scholarly publication workflows, editorial decision-making processes, and the systems, tools and databases used to support publication ethics investigations.
Strong understanding of publication ethics and research integrity principles, including COPE guidance, corrections and retractions, authorship concerns, peer review manipulation, paper mills, image integrity, plagiarism, conflicts of interest and related misconduct issues.
Experience assessing complex or sensitive evidence, identifying editorial, reputational and legal risks, and formulating clear, proportionate, evidence-based recommendations.
Excellent analytical and investigative skills, with the ability to recognize patterns across individual cases and large-scale investigations, distinguish substantiated concerns from weak evidence, and apply sound judgment in ambiguous situations.
Ability to manage multiple complex cases or projects simultaneously, prioritize effectively in response to urgent or emerging issues, and maintain momentum while ensuring accuracy, consistency and procedural compliance.
Strong stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to build effective working relationships with internal editorial colleagues, external Editors-in-Chief, authors, reviewers and other stakeholders of varying seniority and experience.
Confident communicator with excellent written and verbal English, able to explain complex ethics concepts clearly, tactfully and persuasively in writing, meetings, calls, training sessions and external-facing contexts.
Ability to handle conflict, sensitive correspondence and challenging stakeholder interactions professionally, calmly and with appropriate escalation when needed.
Knowledge/experience of the academic publishing industry, and scholarly publication processes, systems and tools (e.g. software for detection of plagiarism and image manipulation);
Familiarity with publication ethics and research integrity issues, and a passion for quality control;
Ability to establish effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders of any background, seniority or level of experience;
Desirable
Strong communication (written and oral) and English language skills;
High level of computer literacy,