Springer Nature donates its unique AI tool that identifies problematic text to publishing community
Formerly known as “Geppetto”, the tool will be available via the STM Integrity Hub
London | Berlin | New York, 30 April 2025
Following the successful rollout across its journals and books of its AI tool that detects cases of AI-generated nonsense text in research manuscripts, Springer Nature is now donating the tool to STM. It will be integrated into the STM Integrity Hub, an industry-wide initiative that supports publishers in ensuring the integrity of their published content, as part of its mission to develop and trial tools that publishers large and small can use to screen submissions for indicators of compromised content.
Chris Graf, Director of Research Integrity at Springer Nature and Chair of the STM Integrity Hub Governance Committee, commented:
“Developing this tool has been a major investment and a long-running project involving close collaboration between leading research integrity and AI teams. We are delighted we will now be able to share this technology with the wider publishing community so it can have an even bigger impact. The rise of AI has made it easier for unethical individuals to generate fake content and tools like this one which harness the power of AI and pattern recognition will be vital, particularly when they are powered by the extensive data that utilisation across the industry will deliver.”
Dr Joris van Rossum, Program Director of STM Solutions, said:
“The growth in fraudulent submissions from paper mills, facilitated by the rise in generative AI, is an increasing challenge for the publishing community. The STM Integrity Hub is a major initiative to help publishers to combat the scourge of papermills and other unethical conduct. We are delighted to be able to integrate this unique tool that identifies indicators of AI generated manuscripts, to support publishers across the industry. This wider use will help to further train the tool and improve its accuracy.”
The tool has already been responsible for identifying hundreds of fake papers soon after submission, preventing them from being published and taking up editors’ and peer reviewers’ valuable time. in addition, the tool provides a gateway to identifying a larger cohort of problematic submissions. Connections between the original papers and other content, for example as part of the same special issue, can be found, leading to the identification of papers that, at first sight, appear robust but, upon more rigorous analysis, are in fact problematic. Data from all these papers feed into Springer Nature’s wider investigations and help to keep out compromised content.
The nonsense text detector is one of a number of AI tools, including Snappshot, which identifies problematic images, and an irrelevant reference checker tool, which was launched last month, that have been or are being developed in-house as part of Springer Nature’s ongoing commitment to ensuring the integrity of the content it publishes. This commitment also includes investment in a rapidly growing, expert team and extensive technology development and utilisation. In addition, Springer Nature is also involved in ongoing collaborative work with the wider publishing community both as a contributing organisation in the STM Integrity Hub, where, in addition to this donation, it is also involved in multiple working groups and pilot tests, and through involvement with other sector bodies and organisations.
The tool, formerly known internally as Geppetto, is a proprietary Springer Nature AI tool, developed by Slimmer AI Science division, which Springer Nature acquired in 2023, and the Springer Nature research integrity unit over the last three years, and launched for use in Springer Nature a year ago. It works by dividing the paper up into sections and uses its own algorithms to check the consistency of the text in each section. The sections are then given a score based on the probability that the text in them has been AI generated. The higher the score, the greater the probability of there being problems, initiating a check by human assessors.
Springer Nature is one of the leading publishers of research in the world. We publish the largest number of journals and books and are a pioneer in open research. Through our leading brands, trusted for more than 180 years, we provide technology-enabled products, platforms and services that help researchers to uncover new ideas and share their discoveries, health professionals to stay at the forefront of medical science, and educators to advance learning. We are proud to be part of progress, working together with the communities we serve to share knowledge and bring greater understanding to the world. For more information, please visit about.springernature.com and @SpringerNature.
The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing trusted research worldwide. STM consists of over 140 members in the academic publishing industry. The STM Integrity Hub is a collaboration between STM member publishers to support research integrity through data, intelligence and technology.
Alice Henchley | Corporate Affairs | Springer Nature
