Compliance Report in Response to the Final Inquiry Report on Quality of the Contents Published by the Journal ‘Advancements in Life Sciences’ in 2024/25
Reference to the internal inquiry on first cohort i.e., contents of 2024/25, published by the journal 'Advancements in Life Sciences' to find and fix any quality related issues, we have made progress. Here is a short brief.
- 03 April 2025: Inquiry for the year 2024 and 2025 was opened.
- 30 April 2025: Initial inquiry report was made available to public and shared with WoS.
- 12 May 2025: Final inquiry report was released. Article level findings on all thirteen (13) indicators were shared via Google Drive link.
- 20 May 2025: Issuance of Editorial Expression of Concerns was completed on all the related articles.
- 26 May 2025: Clarification on indexing status was issued for authors.
Today on 02 June 2025, compliance report has been made public. All nine (9) recommendations of the inquiry team have been adopted. Notably, we have now 3 retractions in process and 1 data/analysis related issue taken up with the authors. Rest of the post-publication minor errors / discrepancies have been addressed transparently. This compliance report is available here.
Further multiplex inquiry into the content of 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 has been initiated as sanctioned by the editorial board in the extraordinary meeting held on 02 April 2025. These inquiries shall be completed by mid of June 2025.
The editorial board is appreciative of the regulatory oversight by the Web of Science and is strongly committed to upkeep the quality standards required for scholarly publishing.
Regards,
Prof. Dr. Idrees Ahmed Nasir
Chief Editor
Advancements in Life Sciences
International Quarterly Journal of Biological Sciences
http://www.als-journal.com/
Notice updated on 02 June 2025.
Important Clarification for Authors
Reference to the ongoing inquiry on quality parameters of the published content and corrective measures being undertaken by the journal, regular publishing operations have been resumed since 20 May 2025. This resumption is based on confidence of the editorial board in its corrective actions and strengthened quality checks as advised by the Inquire team in their final report. However, it must be noted that articles published during this period of internal inquiry and 'on-hold' status of the journal in Web of Science (WoS) shall not be indexed readily by WoS. They will only be indexed if and when WoS removes 'on-hold' and reinstate complete indexing status of the journal (without putting any embargo period). For more information on the relevant policy of WoS, please click here.
It remains the authors' prerogative to pause or delay the publication of their respective manuscript(s), or to initiate the withdrawal process by contacting us through their portal on https://submission.als-journal.com/.
Regards,
Notice updated on 26 May 2025.
Completion of Issuance of Editorial Expression of Concerns
Reference to the recently completed inquiry on 'quality concerns' in the first cohort i.e., articles published in 2024 and 2025 by the journal, we hereby report that all fifty-five (55) applicable editorial expressions of concern have issued according to article-level analysis and recommendations by the inquiry team. Corrections / retractions / addressal of concerns are due to be completed by 26 May 2025. Further multiplex inquiry into the content of 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 has been initiated as sanctioned by the editorial board in the extraordinary meeting held on 02 April 2025. These inquiries shall be completed by mid of June 2025.
We are confident that by implementing the given recommendations, quality concerns in the already published content would be addressed satisfactorily as per international standards / COPE guidelines and chances for any future occurrence would be reduced significantly on the given quality parameters. With this confidence, we intend to resume regular publishing operations, which were paused following the Web of Science notification placing the journal in an “on-hold” status.
We thank authors and most importantly our readers for their trust. We appreciate the role of Web of Science and look forward to continuing our work on this matter.
Regards,
Notice updated on 20 May 2025.
Release of Final Inquiry Report (2024/25) on 'Quality Concerns' Raised by the Web of Science
In response to quality concerns raised by the Web of Science, the editorial board of Advancements in Life Sciences initiated an internal inquiry to rigorously assess and address the integrity/quality issues of its published content (2024/25). Following an approved review process, the final inquiry report has now been made publicly available. Click here to download the report.
The final report broadly features:
- Preamble and detailed inquiry process
- Summary of findings across 13 quality indicators
- Manuscript-level analysis highlighting the exact types of post-publication errors and discrepancies
- Corrective measures recommended at article level
- Recommendations for strengthening editorial quality
As per the decision of the board, article level analysis is also being made publicly available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19fqZSDL8UvD3YupDi2sn72ma9RRoDsAo/ as an update to our readers and authors.
We are determined to do the required compliance with recommendations of the inquiry team by or before 26 May 2025 to uplift quality of the scholarly content (that has been) published and to-be-published.
Furthermore, similar inquiry and quality improvement actions shall promptly be undertaken for the content published in 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.
Thank you for your trust and patience.
Regards,
Notice updated on 12 May 2025.
Release of the Initial Report of the Inquiry
Dear Authors and Readers
Consequent to the internal inquiry initiated by the editorial board of the journal 'Advancements in Life Sciences' upon 'quality concerns' raised by the Web of Sciences, an initial inquiry report is now available here.
The report features following elements.
- Preamble
- Process of inquiry
- Summary of Findings
- Manuscript Level Details of the Inquiry
- Additional Considerations by the Inquiry Team
- Recommendations by the Inquiry Team
- Supplementary Notes / Suggestions
- Way Forward
- About the Inquiry Team
In addition to the 25-points summary of findings on 13 indicators, the inquiry team has exactly identified 'Type of Errors Found After Publishing / Other Discrepancies' and advised 'Corrective Measures to be Taken' at article level. Further, they have also given 8 recommendations and 2 suggestions for future reference to uplift quality of the content-to-be-published. Regardless, our word-by-word review of the published content is going-on till completion of this cohort. The team will complete this review by 10 May 2025.
As per the decision of the board, article level analysis is also being made publicly available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19fqZSDL8UvD3YupDi2sn72ma9RRoDsAo/ as an update to our readers and authors.
We look forward to keep working to uplift quality of the scholarly content (that has been) published and to-be-published with Web of Science.
Thank you for your patience.
Regards,
Attention Readers and Authors
Advancements in Life Sciences has been put “On-Hold” by Web of Science on quality concerns since 25 March 2025. Editorial board of the journal has taken this development very seriously and has convened an extraordinary meeting on 02 April 2025 to discuss this matter.
Given the reputational stake and scientific stature of the founding editors and their research groups/affiliated organizations, the board has decided to take a pragmatic approach i.e., to work with Web of Science editorial team (if asked) and launch internal inquiry to find any lapses / fix responsibility / take corrective measures. The inquiry team consists of three senior editors from the journal's editorial board and two of our independent colleagues. In addition to 24 quality parameters set by Web of Science, they are reviewing following elements of the editorial workflow of all articles published by the journal in year 2024-25 and shall furnish report in three (3) working weeks.
1. Peer review reports
2. Similarity index / AI content reports generated through Turnitin
3. Authors revisions
4. Editorial correspondences between authors, editors and editorial team
5. Copyedited/proofread files
6. Publishing frequency and quantity
7. Citation pattern
8. APC record
We understand the sanctity of scholarly publishing and vis-à-vis required editorial standards as per COPE guidelines. We also appreciate role of Web of Science and other reputed indices for their service to the research community in curating dependable research databases. Therefore, we intend to remain completely transparent in our editorial handling of all submitted manuscripts to Advancements in Life Sciences.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely!
Prof. Dr. Idrees Ahmed Nasir
Chief Editor
Advancements in Life Sciences
International Quarterly Journal of Biological Sciences
Notice updated on 03 April 2025.
