In response to growing concern about reporting biases, and advocacy for registration of systematic reviews, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) is leading an initiative to establish an international register of ongoing systematic reviews.

The register will be free of charge and will work in a similar way to clinical trials registers allowing researchers to prospectively record key features of their systematic reviews. Fuller details about the project have just been published in The Lancet.

In order to arrive at an internationally agreed minimum data set for registration, a consultation exercise is now being undertaken. The opinions of international experts in systematic review, methodology, commissioning, and guideline development in health and social care and journal editors around the world are being sought.

To participate in this exercise please go to www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/projects/register.htm

Professor Lesley Stewart, Director of CRD, said “We believe the register will promote research transparency, reduce the potential for bias and should lead to improved quality of systematic reviews and the decisions that rely upon them. It should also help avoid duplication and support the efficient use of research funding. Following publication of the 2009 PRISMA statement, CRD received a number of unsolicited applications for registration of review protocols, which we believe indicates that the systematic review community is ready to support this initiative.”

For further information please contact Alison Booth at crd-register@york.ac.uk

The research project, entitled ‘What instructions and guidance do journals provide to their reviewers to assess submitted manuscripts? : A survey with particular emphasis on the use of reporting guidelines’, aims to survey journals’ instructions to reviewers of submitted manuscripts. The study will summarise if and how journals use reporting guidelines in the peer review process, and will explore how effective the editors have found reporting guidelines in improving manuscript quality. 

The survey will provide an indication of the degree to which reporting guidelines are currently formally used in the peer review process. The study also hopes to identify examples of good practice which may inform recommendations for consideration by other journals. If simple processes which journals have found to be helpful can be identified, more journals may consider using them which may help to improve the quality of submissions to journals and, ultimately, ease the role of peer reviewers.

This project will be undertaken by Allison Hirst, Research Fellow at the EQUATOR Network, with EQUATOR Steering Group colleagues Professor Doug Altman, Dr Iveta Simera, Dr David Moher, Dr John Hoey and Dr Kenneth F. Schulz. The EQUATOR Network is an international initiative set up to advance high quality reporting of health research studies; it promotes good reporting practices including the wider implementation of reporting guidelines (www.equator-network.org).

COPE has an established Grant Scheme to fund research in the field of publication ethics. The Scheme is designed to provide financial support to any member of COPE for a defined research project that is in the broad area of the organisation’s interests and specifically in the area of ethical standards and practice in academic publishing.   A maximum sum of £5000 is awarded twice a year (June and December) to any one project but applications for smaller sums are welcome. See http://publicationethics.org/research/grantscheme for more information and to download an application form. 

COPE now has its own Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.  Click on the links to follow us:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/COPE-Committee-on-Publication-Ethics/107658079276587

Twitter: http://twitter.com/C0PE

Download the Summer issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE (http://publicationethics.org/newsletters).
This issue's theme is Plagiarism, following on from our recent annual seminar. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

Download the agenda and materials for the 8 June 2010 Forum (Download PDF, 237kb).

Date: 10-12 November 2010
Location: Oxford, UK
Website: http://www.pspconsulting.org

Now in its 13th year, this short course for Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Board members and managing editors helps build skills and awareness of what it means to be a journal editor and how to make your journal successful. The course covers: how to attract the best authors; how to manage your journal and, how to make your journal successful. Full course details can be found on the websiteor by emailing Pippa Smart pippa.smart@gmail.com.

Download the agenda and materials for the 1 March 2010 Forum (Download PDF, 136kb).

The results from the survey of COPE Members, which was carried out online recently, have been collated into a report which can be downloaded here (Download PDF, 645kb).

COPE’s retraction guidelines have now been published and are available to download (see Guidelines, http://publicationethics.org/guidelines).