Identity Confidence Check Feature

The Identity Confidence Check (ICC) feature can help publications guard against academic fraud by checking and rating the confidence in personal details supplied by or for people whose work may be under consideration by the publication (as Corresponding Authors, Co-authors, or Reviewers suggested by Authors). The ICC looks for indications that the personal information supplied is trustworthy.

Once enabled, the ICC is automatically triggered for all Article Types when a new submission is received. It is automatically recalculated when a revision is submitted. ICC is also triggered by Co-author verification, changes to Co-author metadata, and changes to the personal information of an EM user with an existing ICC rating. The ICC is an asynchronous process and does not hold up the submission in the editorial workflow.

A person's overall rating is not intended to impede the submission's progress or bias the submission in any way. Rather, the goal is to provide an objective assessment of possible risk factors or indications that a person and/or work may be fraudulent, and to provide the necessary information for the publication staff early in the editorial process to investigate further, if desired.

Five factors may be set for consideration by the ICC: Email Domain, Institution, Country, EM Activity, and ORCID Activity. Publications determine the level of importance of each factor checked by the algorithm.

Editors (with RoleManager permission) see an icon next to individuals' names on key pages early in the submission process. Icons indicate a general assessment of pass, alert, and high alert. An authorized Editor may override, or effectively turn off, a warning indicator for a particular person (i.e., the metadata checked by the ICC algorithm indicates that the person may not be trustworthy, but the Editor knows otherwise). A blank icon appears when a person has not been given an ICC rating. Editors may also be allowed to run ICC manually.

Clicking an icon opens a pop-up window that shows details of the individual's ICC rating.

For use instructions, see Use Identity Confidence Check.

For additional information, see the video on the Identity Confidence Check feature.

To configure:

Configuration requires granting permissions in RoleManager and setting parameters in PolicyManager.

Go to RoleManager > Editor Role. Grant permissions to applicable Editor roles:

View Identity Confidence Check Results: Allows a user to see the ICC icons in the interface.
1. Override Identity Confidence Score: Sub-permission allows a user to override an individual's ICC rating and mark the individual as trusted.

To set parameters, go to PolicyManager > General Policies > Configure Identity Confidence Check. This page allows you to enable the feature, set the level of importance for each factor, and define which users are included in the check. Each selected factor also requires additional configuration (on separate pages).

For all factors (Email Domain, Institution, Country or Region, EM Activity, ORCID Activity): Use the drop-down list to set the level of importance (1 – 5, low to high).
For all factors: Use the checkboxes to select which users (Corresponding Author, Co-Authors, Suggested Reviewers) are subjected to the ICC. To exclude a factor from the ICC, do not select any user roles next to it.
For all factors: Click the Configure link to open a page with specific settings for the selected factor. (See details for each below.)
After all factor configurations are complete, check the box next to the setting, Enable Identity Confidence Check.
Click Submit.

Email Domain: Email domain extensions may be defined to identify as Pass, Alert, or High Alert. (If a person has an email domain not specified on this page, the email address is ignored by the ICC for that person.)

Enter the domain in the text box under the appropriate category and click Add.
When finished, click Submit to save changes and return to the main ICC configuration page.

Institution: Institution Name Normalization must be enabled to include this factor in ICC. For details, see Institution Name Normalization. This setting checks the institution name provided by the individual. If the institution is not associated with a Ringgold ID, the assessment toward the overall ICC score may be set as Alert or High Alert.

Use the radio button to select Alert or High Alert.
When finished, click Submit to save changes and return to the main ICC configuration page.

Country or Region: By default, all countries/regions are included in the Pass list. In order for this factor to be included in ICC, at least one country/region must be in the Alert or High Alert column.

To move a country/region from one list to another highlight the name and click the appropriate button: Move to Pass, Move to Alert, or Move to High Alert. (To highlight more than one item, hold the CTRL key (COMMAND key on a Mac) while selecting with the cursor.)
When finished, click Submit to save changes and return to the main ICC configuration page.

EM Activity: Define levels of participation as Editor, Author, and Reviewer.

Check the box if users with an Editor role should automatically receive an ICC result of Pass.
Use the drop-down list to set the threshold for number of authored submissions accepted.
Use the drop-down list to set the threshold for number of invited papers submitted.
Use the drop-down list to set the threshold for number of completed reviews.
When finished, click Submit to save changes and return to the main ICC configuration page.

ORCID Activity: This setting checks to see if the user has an authenticated ORCID identifier in EM. An authenticated ORCID identifier on record receives a Pass rating for this factor. The lack of an authenticated ORCID identifier may be set as Alert or High Alert.

Use the radio button to select Alert or High Alert.
When finished, click Submit to save changes and return to the main ICC configuration page.

Additional documentation with tips for configuration and preliminary testing is available from your Aries Account Coordinator.