PUPP-EII project (Partnership on University Plagiarism Prevention – Event by Invitation on Integrity…pronounced “Popeye”)
Proposed symposium on Ethical Publishing and Dissemination
Coventry University, UK, 26-29th May 2026
PDF – Symosium on Ethical Publishing and Dissemination
You are invited to contribute to this closed symposium to be held at Coventry University, UK, between 25th and 29th May 2026 as part of the SSHRC-funded PUPP project. This is an in-person event that consists of a series of symposia to be held at the same location in parallel during the week. The aim of each symposium is to produce a publication – journal special issue or book – focused on a specific topic relating to academic or research integrity.
For the Ethical Publishing symposium, up to 12 journal papers or book chapters will be agreed in advance by the symposium lead(s) and worked on before the event. Authors will serve as peer reviewers and advisors for other contributions before, during and after the symposium. During the symposium each author or author team will present their draft chapter and receive feedback on how to improve their contribution. The aim is to complete and publish the journal special issue or book from each symposium within one year of the symposium. We achieved this for a similar symposium event for PUPP held May 2024 in Ottawa, Canada.
Because several symposia are running in parallel, any individual may only contribute to one of the symposia. In addition to PUPP project members, people not involved in the PUPP project are very welcome to join a symposium and submit a proposal. Important note: PUPP will pay for the travel expenses for eligible PUPP members only. Non-PUPP researchers who wish to participate in the closed symposiums are welcome to participate, but will have to cover their own costs. In addition to travel, subsistence and accommodation costs, there will be a fee for participation in the event – to be advised.
The publication source for the ethical publishing symposium is not yet finalised, but we expect it will be a book. The theme for all chapters in the book will be “publish or perish”. We are looking for about 10 book chapters that mainly focus on regional or national rules or on rules for specific research fields, that define the current obsession of measuring the performance of academics to determine or influence their remuneration, promotion and appointment. The symposium leaders will write the introductory chapter and a final chapter to complete the book. The inspiration for the theme of the book came from a short article by Kelly-Ann Allen who proposed that there were more important factors than pressurising academics to publish and counting academic publications, that should be considered in terms of contributions by academics towards building a world-class university (Allen, 2025, 25th February). If you are thinking of contributing, please read this article first.
Regarding the symposium, here are some recommendations for the core focus in a typical book chapter, looking regionally, nationally, institutionally or based on a specialist research field:
- How academics are evaluated, what requirements are placed on them to stay in their current post, be awarded a salary increment, be upgraded or promoted; how these factors influence approaches to academic research, publication and dissemination.
- Different requirements that apply at different levels: assistant, associate, full professorship.
- Details of any additional or different requirements placed on early career researchers, that can affect their employment.
- Requirements placed on doctoral and/or master’s students either annually or overall, relating to the award of their degree, particularly in terms of academic publications, restrictions on types of journals, teaching commitments, methods of evaluation.
- Where any measures and rules come from: Internationally, nationally set rules, funding bodies, institutionally established, reputational factors, other drivers.
- Commentary on the impact from the above measures: what are they designed to achieve? How successful are they? Describe any unintended side-effects.
- What kinds of problems relating to research and academic publishing are common in the part of the world or the specialist field you are writing about? What is driving or influencing these problems, positively and negatively?
- Add anything else of note relating to the focus of your chapter.
In addition, proposals for chapters about different topics that relate to the “publish or perish” theme are most welcome. Contributors to the symposium who are members of the PUPP project team are encouraged to incorporate relevant PUPP project results into their chapter.
Please read the attached guidance from Prof. Martine Peters and if you are interested in participating in this symposium, please send your proposal for a book chapter, draft title and brief abstract (<= 500 words) to us both, to arrive no later than Monday 7th July 2025.
Please email us if you have any questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further.
Irene Glendinning – ireneglendinning@gmail.com
Sarah Elaine Eaton – seaton@ucalgary.ca
Reference: Allen, K. (2025-02-25). Measure the deeds that make academic life fulfilling. Nature Vol 638, p. 861, World View, 27th February 2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00563-9.