Editor Training

Identity Verification

Identifying and engaging with collaborators at various parts of the publication process is a core editorial responsibility. Whether you are inviting a reviewer to assess a manuscript, recruiting editors for a journal or book series, or commissioning notable researchers, verifying the identity of your collaborators is essential to ensuring you are building a relationship with someone trustworthy and accountable for their actions. The size and nature of the publishing landscape make it impossible to meet each collaborator in person, and Editors must often rely on digital identifiers to give them information on someone’s identity and researcher profile. This short course provides step-by-step guidance to verifying a person’s (digital) identity in the context of academic publishing.

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Editor Resources

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English

time

25 minutes

About this course

This course provides insights into what to look for when verifying a person’s (digital) identity at critical moments in the publication process, such as when assessing submissions, responding to proposals for Special Issues, or extending invitations to collaborate.

Who should take this course?

This course is written for both experienced Editors and those who are newer to the role. Identity verification is a complex topic and ever-changing as new forms of identity theft come into existence, and as new identifiers are used to try to respond to the threat of identity fraud. It is also possible that even established Editors come across collaborators who use identifiers they are unfamiliar with. This course provides a guide to identity verification that every editor may find useful. 

What will I learn in this course?

After providing an introduction to identity verification, this course walks you through verification methods in the five critical categories of identity in the context of academic publishing, including name, email address, institutional affiliation, expertise and (record of) integrity. Each category also describes how to spot forms of manipulation within its context.