Proofig AI for Research Institutions: Uphold the Highest Standards of Scientific Integrity

Campus-wide automated image quality assurance that safeguards grants, reputations, and responsible conduct of research across every department.

Why Image Integrity Matters for Responsible Conduct of Research

Roughly one-third of life-science manuscripts contain image issues, many discovered only after submission. Research misconduct can cost institutions over $1 million in investigations, grant losses, and direct fallout, with the Office of Research Integrity frequently involved before reputational harm is even measured. With thousands of figures created across theses, manuscripts, and grant proposals, maintaining scientific integrity at scale is difficult. Without automated tools, image issues are often missed—jeopardizing funding, donations, reputation, and public trust in the institution’s commitment to responsible conduct of research.

Seven-Figure
Risk

A single retraction can cost more than $1  million in direct and indirect losses.

Automated Solution for Thousands of Images

Most image issues are impossible to detect with the naked eye. Fast-paced labs need solutions they can trust and that can manage high volume.

Institutional
Reputation

Public loss of trust undermines funding, rankings, and the university’s stance on responsible conduct of research.

Why Institutions Choose Proofig  AI to Safeguard Scientific Integrity

Research institutions cannot directly oversee researchers’ manuscripts and images prior to submission, yet post-publication image issues directly harm institutional credibility—making automated image integrity solutions essential for proactive protection.

Built by Researchers for Researchers

We understand day-to-day lab workflows and help your teams uphold responsible conduct of research.

SSO &
Secure Licensing

Seamless single sign-on and granular role control for every faculty and department.

Central Dashboard & Analytics

Comprehensive admin features provide real-time usage tracking, compliance metrics, and remediation insights.

Protect Funding
& Reputation

Catch issues early to uphold scientific integrity and avert costly retractions.

My  Database &
Advanced Detection

Access proprietary tools, like My Database, for private-archive checks and high-precision screening.

Dedicated Customer Success

A named support team ensures smooth onboarding, training, and ongoing success for your institution.

SOC 2Independent examination of our security controls
Internet2 Cloud ScorecardSelf-assessed for the research and education community

How  It  Works

Sign  In via SSO Researchers authenticate with existing campus credentials.

Step 1

Step 2

AI-Powered Analysis The system scans all images and sub-images for potential issues.

Review and Validate Check flagged images, investigate further, and decide what to include in the final report.

Step 3

Step 4

Download a Final Report Get a detailed PDF report your institution can use to uphold scientific integrity with leadership and auditors.

Proofig AI for research institutions: frequently asked questions

How can a research institution check researchers' figures before they are submitted?

Research institutions use Proofig AI, the image integrity platform trusted by the Science family of journals, to let researchers screen manuscripts before submission. Multi-User and Enterprise licenses give departments shared access, while administrators follow usage, activity and results on central dashboards. Every figure is checked for duplication and reuse, manipulation, image plagiarism and AI-generated images. Institutions that want several integrity checks behind one submission can use PubShield, where image integrity is powered by Proofig AI.

How common are image problems in research papers, and how can an institution reduce its retraction risk?

Image problems are common: an estimated 20-35% of papers are flagged for image issues. A single retraction can cost more than one million dollars in investigations and legal fees. Proofig AI catches unintentional errors as well as intentional manipulation before submission, when a figure can still simply be corrected. Institution-wide screening with Proofig AI finds many of these issues while a figure can still be corrected, instead of after publication, with results in minutes for each manuscript.

Can a research integrity office track screening across departments?

Yes, Proofig AI gives a research integrity office a central dashboard for screening across departments, faculties and labs. The Proofig AI dashboard shows usage tracking, compliance metrics and remediation insights, so the office can see where screening runs and how flagged issues are addressed. Online training and custom onboarding help each department start quickly, and a dedicated customer success team supports the institution throughout. Detailed PDF reports keep a record of every check.

Can our institution compare new manuscripts with its own unpublished archive?

Yes, with My Database, a private repository available on Proofig AI’s Enterprise plan. The institution uploads its own past papers, posters, grant submissions and lab images, including unpublished, confidential and paywalled material, and every new manuscript is compared against it. This catches self-plagiarism that public databases cannot see, alongside Proofig AI’s checks against the industry’s largest image-plagiarism database, with more than 155 million PubMed Open Source Database images.

Can Proofig AI screen research images from departments beyond the life sciences?

Yes, Proofig AI checks a wide range of scientific image types, from microscopy, Western blots and FACS to graphs, charts and plots, in any field. Proofig AI’s graph, chart, diagram and plot screening makes it relevant well beyond biology, including computer science, data science, engineering and economics. Confocal, light and electron microscopy, gels, in-vivo and in-vitro images, plants and plates are all covered, so one platform serves manuscripts from science, engineering and data-heavy faculties alike.

Which security assessments can a university review before adopting Proofig AI?

Proofig AI has completed a SOC 2 examination and has also completed the Internet2 Cloud Scorecard, a self-assessment used by research and education institutions. The SOC 2 report comes from an independent licensed CPA firm and is shared with customers, prospective customers and their auditors on request. Manuscripts are analyzed on private, secure servers, kept fully confidential and never used to train models. Proofig AI is also an STM Associate Member and a COPE member.

Can our institution check references before manuscripts are submitted?

Yes, a research institution can check references before submission with RefGuard, Proofig AI’s reference integrity product. It flags citations to retracted papers, hallucinated references and citations that do not support their claims, so researchers can correct them before a journal sees the manuscript. Institutions can also run RefGuard’s retraction and hallucinated-reference checks inside PubShield, together with Proofig AI’s image integrity checks, with all results in one dashboard.