{"id":38206,"date":"2025-09-03T12:22:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/?p=38206"},"modified":"2025-09-18T12:45:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T11:45:40","slug":"united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"x_xmsonormal\">Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_xmsonormal\"><a href=\"https:\/\/osf.io\/vzq78\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-38366\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"913\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png 718w, https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-768x1095.png 768w, https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-1077x1536.png 1077w, https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM.png 1160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/united2act.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United2Act<\/a> was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_xmsonormal\">This report describes the process and outcomes of the first phase of United2Act, which was financially supported by STM and COPE, ran for 18 months and concluded in June 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_xmsonormal\">Guidance, publications and training resources developed by five working groups are detailed in the paper. As United2Act moves into the next phase, a 2-year collaborative project centered on implementation and outreach, we invite the community to join us in using the resources created.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"x_xmsonormal\">\u201cThis whitepaper is both a testament to what we can achieve through collaboration and a call to action for the global research community. Phase 2 of United2Act is about putting the resources we&#8217;ve developed through the initiative into practice \u2013 ensuring that everyone in the scholarly community, including funders and universities, is informed and equipped to address the challenges posed by paper mills. Meaningful progress depends on shared responsibility and cross-sector collaboration; every stakeholder has a role to play.\u201d\u00a0 &#8211; Dr. Nandita Quaderi, Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the Web of Science, Clarivate; co-chair, United2Act<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-solid\" href=\"https:\/\/osf.io\/vzq78\">Read the report here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices. United2Act was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills. This report&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,91,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-paper-mills","category-research-integrity-strategic-area"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices. United2Act was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills. This report...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"STM Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Felicia Bowling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@stmassoc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@stmassoc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Felicia Bowling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Felicia Bowling\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c0165f72e1945f696349f188066a7f80\"},\"headline\":\"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\"},\"wordCount\":233,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"*Announcements\",\"*Paper Mills\",\"*Research Integrity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\",\"name\":\"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM.png\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":1654},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/\",\"name\":\"STM Association\",\"description\":\"International Association of Scientific, Technical &amp; Medical Publishers\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"STM Association\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/10052158\/stm-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/10052158\/stm-logo.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":188,\"caption\":\"STM Association\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/stmassoc\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/international-association-of-stm-publishers\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c0165f72e1945f696349f188066a7f80\",\"name\":\"Felicia Bowling\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e8b5da248c26a04888f89beae28c6180477483fd2877b4541db9fceddce75611?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e8b5da248c26a04888f89beae28c6180477483fd2877b4541db9fceddce75611?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Felicia Bowling\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/author\/fbowling\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association","og_description":"Paper mills are a multi-million pound industry profiting from the sale and publication of manuscripts containing low value or fraudulent content. They are destroying the integrity of research and publishing practices. United2Act was established in October 2023, as an international multi-stakeholder project with the aim of tackling the growing problem of paper mills. This report...","og_url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/","og_site_name":"STM Association","article_published_time":"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Felicia Bowling","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@stmassoc","twitter_site":"@stmassoc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Felicia Bowling","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/"},"author":{"name":"Felicia Bowling","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c0165f72e1945f696349f188066a7f80"},"headline":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations","datePublished":"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/"},"wordCount":233,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png","articleSection":["*Announcements","*Paper Mills","*Research Integrity"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/","url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/","name":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations - STM Association","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM-718x1024.png","datePublished":"2025-09-03T11:22:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-18T11:45:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/18124422\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-7.42.10-AM.png","width":1160,"height":1654},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/united2act-phase-1-report-and-recommendations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"United2Act Phase 1: Report and Recommendations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/","name":"STM Association","description":"International Association of Scientific, Technical &amp; Medical Publishers","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#organization","name":"STM Association","url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/10052158\/stm-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/stm.offloadmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/10052158\/stm-logo.png","width":400,"height":188,"caption":"STM Association"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/stmassoc","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/international-association-of-stm-publishers\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c0165f72e1945f696349f188066a7f80","name":"Felicia Bowling","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e8b5da248c26a04888f89beae28c6180477483fd2877b4541db9fceddce75611?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e8b5da248c26a04888f89beae28c6180477483fd2877b4541db9fceddce75611?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Felicia Bowling"},"url":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/author\/fbowling\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm-assoc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}