Classification of Mild Endogeny as Scientific Misconduct

Determine whether mild levels of endogeny—defined as a guest editor publishing a non-editorial article in the same special issue they are editing—constitute scientific misconduct under accepted research integrity standards.

Background

The paper examines endogeny, defined as the practice of a guest editor authoring non-editorial articles within their own special issue. While endogeny can be common and is sometimes argued to be acceptable in small amounts, it presents a conflict of interest and raises questions about research integrity.

The authors introduce the concept of Published in Support of Self (PISS) for special issues with more than 33% endogenous articles and analyze its prevalence across major publishers. In this context, they explicitly state uncertainty about whether low levels of endogeny qualify as scientific misconduct, highlighting an unresolved normative and policy question.