Two Studies Retracted for Using Pirated Software

Last week, Dalmeet Singh Chawlaat Retraction Watch reported that two papers were retracted after a software company, Flow Science, reported they had used unlicensed software.

Both papers were published in the Ain Shams Engineering Journal. They contained images generated using the software FLOW-3D, which simulates fluids and gases.

According to Tom Jenson, the vice President of Flow Science, his company contacted the authors to offer a retroactive license. However, they did not hear back from either of the authors, prompting them to seek retractions.

Elsevier, the journal’s publisher, said that journals are responsible for verifying that the software used is legitimate.

This story represents a rare case of papers being retracted for copyright reasons. However, as we’ve seen, copyright is becoming an increasingly important component of academic publishing. Jensen said they discovered the infringement because they regularly review citations of their software online.

As such, it’s a reality that every researcher and every journal needs to be ready for.

When Copyright and Research Collide

Last month, we examined the story of BioRender, an application that lets users create diagrams for studies. Though the company does not claim ownership of final diagrams, it is very protective of the 50,000+ icons that make up its library.

When those diagrams are published in open-access articles, particularly under the CC-BY license, a copyright issue arises. BioRender’s license is incompatible with CC-BY, necessitating a separate designation or the use of different images.

To date, no studies have been retracted due to BioRender’s licensing, and it seems unlikely that they will. At most, the articles involved will likely be corrected or updated.

However, the case is an excellent example of the issue. In addition to considering the normal ethical issues associated with scientific publishing, researchers need to consider copyright issues as well.

Unfortunately, this is a big ask. Asking researchers from various fields also to be copyright experts is a significant reach.

That said, there are a few areas that I would focus on as they seem to be the areas that are coming up right now.

Copyright Precautions for Researchers

First, the good news: Anything that you or your coauthors write or create yourselves is your (or your institution’s) property. While obviously, you want to avoid copying too much from outside sources, especially without attribution, there aren’t many copyright concerns involving your work.

This came up in a 2017 case Retraction Watch touched on in their article. Then, a researcher asked for thousands of dollars to use a copyright-protected questionnaire he created. At least two papers were withdrawn from publication rather than pay the fees.

However, that case is an outlier. Most researchers are happy to have their work used as long as it is appropriately cited. Still, ensuring the authors you’re using are on board before publication is likely worthwhile.

Instead, most of the problems appear to be from images and graphics.

To that end, here are a few things to watch out for:

1. Ensure Your Software is Licensed: This can be tricky if you work at an institution that provides software. However, ensuring you have a license to use all your software is essential. As this most recent story highlights, software developers are seeking out these kinds of infringements, at least on a smaller scale.
2. Ensure Your Images Are Correctly Licensed: If you use images from third parties, you need to ensure that they are licensed for publication and that you comply with the license. Looking back to BioRender, the company places restrictions on when and how you can publish images built with their icons. Especially if you’re publishing in open-access journals, you must ensure that everything in your paper is compatible.
3. Check For Issues Before Submission: Finally, checking a paper for plagiarism or other issues before submission is always a good idea. This means examining both the text and the images. This is especially important if you are working with coauthors who have contributed significant amounts to the paper. If it’s unpolished work, such checks are usually quick to do and can save a lot of headaches down the road.

All in all, it’s important to consider copyright when preparing to publish a paper. While it is yet another thing for researchers to worry about, it will become increasingly important, especially if companies like Flow Science become more aggressive.

Bottom Line

In the end, the best advice I would give a researcher concerned about copyright is the same advice I would give a student concerned about plagiarism. If you’re unsure, ask for help.

If you work for a large institution, you likely have lawyers on staff who can answer copyright-related questions. Should you not know who that person is, find out now. If you’re an institution and aren’t making it abundantly clear, give your staff that information.

These are basic steps that, in an ideal world, would already be done by everyone involved. But we are far from a perfect world.

Ultimately, copyright is a growing area of concern for academic publishing. However, these cases are still outliers. This means that there is still plenty of time to get ahead of these issues.

To that end, the first step is awareness.