Authors: Samuel Opata Sackitey
Abstract: Generative Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how research is written, analyzed, and disseminated, but it also introduces heightened ethical and integrity risks, including unverifiable claims, fabricated or mis-attributed citations, undisclosed automation, and weak reproducibility. This article introduces Ethical Research Intelligence and New Era Data Analysis as a globally applicable governance concept that integrates ethics by design, traceable research intelligence, reproducible analytics, and responsible Artificial Intelligence controls to strengthen trust in research outputs. The article demonstrates the concept using two global secondary datasets: OpenAlex-based worldwide journal article output and Open Access routes from 2015 to 2024 as transparency indicators, and Retraction Watch integrity outcome metadata distributed through Crossref as indicators of integrity burden. Governance-ready metrics are derived, including Open Access share, Open Access route composition, annual retractions, and retractions per million articles, and combined monitoring models are estimated to examine how transparency indicators co-move with integrity burden over time. Findings show sustained growth in Open Access through 2022 and 2023, followed by a marked decline in 2024, while integrity burden indicators fluctuate substantially across years, reinforcing the need for continuous monitoring rather than one-time compliance. The article argues that trustworthy Artificial Intelligence enabled research requires institutional systems that combine openness monitoring with integrity surveillance, Artificial Intelligence disclosure and provenance logging, and reproducible data and code workflows. ERINDA Consult, established in Ghana, operationalizes these controls as a practical service model for universities, journals, research institutes, policy organisations, and consulting entities globally.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18739205
