How does Proofig benefit academic integrity position holders?
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. We share that concern.
Proofig’s solution offers integrity officials:
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Assistance in conducting investigations efficiently
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Accurate analysis of manuscripts, reducing human error
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Automatic analysis of many images and manuscripts, providing reports in minutes
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Automate the review process to streamline image integrity checks in scientific papers
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Significant saving in time & cost
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Fully confidential results
How does it work?
Proofig extracts images from papers and compares each image to itself and then to the rest of the images to detect duplications or other anomalies. It also compares each flipped image with the other images in the uploaded files.
Check each manuscript, confidentially and automatically, in three simple steps:
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Upload manuscript (PDF) and submit it for sub-image detection. The system leverages AI to analyse the manuscript and mark all sub-images within the figures.
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Review the detected sub-images and validate results, then submit the manuscript for integrity detection.
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Review the suspected issues Proofig has flagged and add only relevant findings to the final report. The system processes your selections within seconds and you’ve got the full report, which can be printed (PDF) or seen as is, within the system. The report includes both a page view of the suspected issue as well as a detailed view of each issue you confirmed.
Proofig AI is trusted by leading publishers, research institutes, and researchers
“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
Hear what renowned editors and scientists are saying about Proofig:
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