Proofig AI for Ethics Committees: Uphold the Highest Standards of Research Oversight
Automated image-integrity screening that supports ethical review, safeguards participant trust, and streamlines protocol evaluations.
Why Image Integrity Matters
Roughly one-third of life-science manuscripts contain image issues—many discovered only after submission. Manipulated or duplicated figures can compromise study validity, prompt ethics investigations, and undermine public confidence in research.
Ethics committees must verify that study materials meet rigorous quality standards, yet manual review often misses subtle or large-scale problems. Automated screening delivers consistent, timely detection—helping boards flag concerns early and maintain robust oversight across every protocol.
Misconduct
Risk
Undetected image issues can invalidate findings and trigger formal inquiries.
Public & Participant
Trust
Integrity lapses erode confidence in approved studies and institutional review.
Limited Review
Time
Volunteer committees and small offices can’t inspect every figure by eye.
Why Ethics Committees Choose Proofig AI
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.
Wide-Ranging
Detection
Identify duplication, manipulation, AI-generated content, and more within minutes.
Audit-Ready
Reporting
Download clear PDF reports to document findings for board records or regulators.
Secure &
Confidential
All files are processed on private servers; data is never reused for other purposes.
Flexible
Workflow
Upload protocol PDFs manually or integrate Proofig with your existing submission portal.
Dashboard
Oversight
Track screening activity, detection results, and remediation steps across studies.
Dedicated
Support
A named success manager assists with onboarding, training, and policy alignment.
How It Works
Choose Your Workflow Drag-and-drop a protocol PDF or integrate Proofig for automatic screening.
AI-Powered Analysis The system scans all images and sub-images for potential integrity issues.
Review and Validate Check flagged images, investigate further, and decide what to include in the committee report.
Download a Final Report Generate a detailed PDF to archive with meeting minutes, compliance records, or investigator feedback.
Proofig AI for ethics committees: frequently asked questions
How can an ethics committee check the images in study protocols?
An ethics committee uploads protocol PDFs to Proofig AI or connects it to its existing submission portal, and every image is screened automatically. Proofig AI checks for duplication and reuse, manipulation, image plagiarism and AI-generated images, with results in minutes. Members review each flagged finding and keep the relevant ones in an audit-ready PDF report. Proofig AI is built for individual researchers, publishers, institutions and ethics committees alike.
Does an image integrity flag mean research misconduct occurred?
No, a Proofig AI finding is a technical signal that an image needs a closer look, not a verdict of misconduct. Proofig AI detects unintentional errors as well as intentional manipulation, and some repeated images are methodologically valid. The Review Assistant explains how strong the technical evidence is and how serious the issue would be if confirmed. Every finding is flagged for your review, and the committee decides after checking the original data and context.
Can Proofig AI reports be kept in an ethics committee's records?
Yes, Proofig AI produces audit-ready PDF reports that committees can archive with meeting minutes and compliance records. Reviewers choose which findings go into each report, and every finding carries a short description of the evidence. Dashboards track screening activity, results and remediation over time, so the committee’s record of each review stays clear for anyone who reads it later.
What should an ethics committee do when Proofig AI flags an image in a protocol?
Start with the evidence: open the finding in Proofig AI and read the Review Assistant’s explanation of what was found and next steps. Forensic tools in Proofig AI let members inspect the flagged region closely. The committee can then ask the investigator for the original image files and archive the PDF report with its minutes and compliance records. When a flag reflects an honest error, the figure can be corrected before the study proceeds.
Can several committee members share one Proofig AI account?
Yes, Proofig AI’s Multi-User license is built for ethics teams, departments and groups that share one account. Several user accounts are managed centrally, with usage, activity and results dashboards. Online training and custom onboarding help members start quickly, and two-factor authentication is available on every plan.
Can Proofig AI flag AI-generated images in the study materials a committee reviews?
Yes, Proofig AI flags suspected AI-generated images in six categories: microscopy, histology, cell plates, animal imaging, medical scans, and Western blots and gels. In Proofig AI’s AI-generated image detection benchmarks, its models showed 95.41% true positives and 0.0093% false positives on a 200K real microscopy image dataset, and 97.68% and 0.0020% on a 250K real Western blot dataset. Members can examine each flagged image with forensic tools, and the committee makes the final call.
Can Proofig AI check the references of a published paper under investigation?
Yes, RefGuard, Proofig AI’s reference integrity product, checks the reference list of a published paper as well as a manuscript. It flags citations to retracted papers with the reason, date and type of notice, references that cannot be matched to any real publication, and citations that do not support their claims. Ethics committees and integrity officers then review each flag against the paper and its sources, and decide what it means for the case.
Trusted by Leading Institutions and Publishers
I believe Proofig is a very valuable tool for duplication detection, and suited to effectively assist journals’ image integrity screening routines.
Further Resources
- Proofig AI and MDPI Sign Multi-Year Deal to Strengthen Research Integrity
- AI-Generated Image Detection: A Leap in Scientific Integrity
- Science Journals Adopt AI-Powered Image Integrity Checks