At the 2026 COPE China Seminar, jointly organized by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Society of China University Journals (CUJS), a practical case study titled "24hreview: A Pre-Submission Integrity Safeguard Layer for Publishers" drew significant attention. The platform, positioned as a public infrastructure asset in academic integrity, aims to provide a standardized, shared pre-submission integrity layer for the global academic publishing community.
During the session "Ecosystem Panel: Research Integrity Practices in China," the 24hreview initiative was presented as a tangible response to COPE's vision of translating principles into implementable industry infrastructure. The platform originated from a CUJS survey of 1,036 Chinese researchers, which revealed that only 19.64% of authors were familiar with COPE policies and guidelines, while 86.7% supported pre-submission checks, and 31.6% explicitly expected professional pre-submission screening channels provided by publishers.
The survey identified three structural gaps in the current publication ethics safeguarding system: late-stage screening (18.6%), limited capacity of individual journals (18.3%), and a lack of shared mechanisms and self-check tools (16.1%). The case report noted that these gaps represent a systemic structural issue requiring coordinated industry-wide solutions rather than individual failures.
24hreview is positioned as a dedicated integrity safeguard layer for publishers, working at the pre-submission stage before a manuscript formally reaches the publisher. Its three core features include standardized screening dimensions, integration with existing submission systems, and completion of front-end checks within 24 hours while supporting publishing efficiency. Launched in 2024 under CUJS, the platform first piloted the approach with Wiley, a leading global publisher. The number of participating journals has grown from an initial 8 to about 80, demonstrating straightforward implementation and smooth integration with existing workflows.
Multiple presentations throughout the seminar converged on a common direction: addressing increasingly complex research integrity challenges requires transcending the capacity boundaries of individual journals or publishers and building a coordinated industry governance system. The 24hreview model represents a front-end, standardized, and seamlessly integrated approach to strengthen integrity assurance across participating journals.
COPE Chair Nancy Chescheir reaffirmed COPE's core mission to uphold the integrity of the scholarly record by resolving publication ethics challenges through collaborative discussion, education, training, and professional leadership. She expressed appreciation for the innovative explorations undertaken by China's publishing and research communities in research integrity and publication ethics.
For more information, the original source URL is https://www.cujs.org.cn/site/content/8650.html.
