Case Studies and Testimonials

Jane Alfred has been running a programme of research integrity and publication ethics workshops at the Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) since 2014. Jane’s work with the TSL kicked off with a discussion with the Lab’s group leaders about research culture and practice and how they are interlinked with research integrity. These discussions helped to shape and influence the content and breadth of the training workshops, which have been tailored to meet the training needs of both academic researchers and research support staff.

Debbie Feather, Head of Administration at TSL, says about these workshops

"Upholding the highest standards of scientific integrity is integral to our research here at the Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL), and we expect our colleagues to conduct their research according to best scientific practise and the highest professional standards. We have been delighted then to work with Jane in developing an on-going programme of research integrity workshops, which have become an integral part of the culture of the Laboratory. Jane’s background and extensive experience, together with her enthusiasm and insight have facilitated a new approach to research integrity and publishing ethics at TSL. We have benefited greatly from working with her over the last couple of years and look forward to a new series of challenging and rewarding workshops in 2017!"

In 2015, following an invitation by Dr Tanita Casci, Head of Research Policy at the University of Glasgow, Jane gave a presentation on research integrity, and about how research communication is changing to support good research culture and practice, to an audience of integrity officers and senior managers.

Dr Casci said about this presentation:

"As an institution we work hard to embed an awareness of good research practice. Jane's talk brought this topic to life by skillfully tying together the rapidly changing landscape of research publishing, the incentives placed on academics to publish, and the opportunities, responsibilities and risks that come with the (welcome) drive towards open scholarship and open data. I thought I had heard it all before, but I was wrong: I left with several urgent actions, and a much more compelling way to present integrity to the research community."

The open access journal eLife approached Jane Alfred with the idea for a series of feature articles on the natural history of model organisms. Jane worked closely with eLife senior editor, Professor Ian Baldwin, and with eLife features editor, Dr Peter Rodgers, in identifying potential authors for this series. Working in close communication with these Editors, Jane commissioned the articles for this series, and was responsible for developmentally editing them, handling them through peer review and for drafting editorial decisions. The article series was published in March 2015, together with an Introductory article co-authored by Ian and Jane.

Ian Baldwin, eLife senior editor, says:

"It was simply a pleasure working with Jane on the Natural History of Model Organisms project. Jane is a biologist’s dream of an editor. She quickly grasps the scientific complexity of an issue and finds ways of guiding authors past the obstacles of their own jargon and down a logical explanatory path that illuminates the complexity in a comprehensible manner. And she does it in a non-obtrusive manner that makes authors feel as if they found this path all on their own. Jane can be completely trusted to mind the editorial store, freeing an Academic or staff editor to deal only with the higher level issues; a dream collaborator!."