Upholding research ethics and reproducibility standards in paleontology research publications: Perspectives from PLOS ONE

Abstract

In 2012, the open access multidisciplinary journal PLOS ONE launched a Paleontology and Archaeology Research policy to uphold legal, ethics, reporting and accessibility standards that had been established within the paleontology research community. Nine years later, these requirements were further augmented when PLOS implemented an Inclusivity in Global Research policy. This article discusses these two policies, ethical and scientific issues that impact paleontology research and reporting, and successes and challenges PLOS ONE has encountered in implementing and enforcing our paleontology requirements.