The tool works by detecting unusual phrases that have been awkwardly constructed or are excessively convoluted, for example ‘counterfeit consciousness’ instead of ‘artificial intelligence’. Such phrases are indicators that authors have used paraphrasing tools to evade plagiarism detection. If a number of non-standard phrases are identified by the tool, the submission will be withdrawn.
The tool has been developed using the public tortured phrases catalogue of the Problematic Paper Screener (PPS) created by Guillaume Cabanac, Cyril Labbé and Alexander Magazinov and has undergone multiple rounds of testing and validation to provide a reliable assessment of submissions across academic disciplines.
The non-standard phrases detector tool is the newest addition to Springer Nature’s suite of research integrity solutions and complements existing tools; a nonsense text detector, Snappshot (which identifies duplicate or manipulated images), and an irrelevant reference checker tool. These tools have been developed in-house as part of Springer Nature’s ongoing commitment to ensure the integrity of the work it publishes. This commitment includes investment in a rapidly growing, expert team and ongoing technology development. Springer Nature is also committed to collaborating with the wider publishing community, as a contributing organisation in the STM Integrity Hub, which facilitates knowledge and data exchange and develops shared technology tools, and to which Springer Nature has donated its nonsense text detector for use across the sector.