For years, sleuths have been diligently flagging issues with the scientific literature. More than a dozen of these specialists have teamed up to create a set of guides to teach others their trade. The Collection of Open Science Integrity Guides (COSIG) aims to make "post-publication peer review" more accessible, according to the preprint made available online.

"We wanted to demonstrate how far just a few tidbits of specialized knowledge – like how to check energy dispersive X-ray spectra, what to look for in cases of suspected plagiarism and what softwares are available for image forensics – can go towards spotting integrity issues in the scientific literature," said Reese Richardson, a metascience researcher at Northwestern University.

Source: https://retractionwatch.com/2025/06/04/cosig-sleuths-publish-toolkit-post-publication-review/

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