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Artificial intelligence: Lightning talk summary

New tools and directions in AI for scholarly publishing

January 2024 Lightning talk

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Letter from the COPE Chair: January 2024

Looking forward into the new year, we see significant actions and opportunities before us. We know that we are stronger when we work together, and threats to the scholarly publishing industry are before us.

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Guest editorial: Tackling paper mills

This is a guest editorial and opinions may not reflect official COPE guidance or policies.

A society publisher's perspective

Zara Manwaring, Managing Editor (Biochemical Society/Portland Press)

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Facilitation & Integrity 2023, a year in review

COPE’s Facilitation and Integrity subcommittee (F&I) is one of our most active services. When it was launched in 2010 its role was envisaged as dealing with complaints concerning member journals.

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Where next in peer review? Part 2: COPE commentary

In Part 1 of this Commentary we outlined some of the problems, solutions, and tools facing peer review. In Part 2 we address perhaps the most lively area of debate on this topic at the moment: the role of artificial intelligence (AI).

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Where next in peer review? Part 1: COPE commentary

We have become used to speaking about scholarly peer review with some scepticism. Critics note that it is subjective and therefore inconsistent, it can be slow, it tends to down-weight negative results, and it is increasingly susceptible to manipulation.

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Letter from the COPE Chair and Vice-Chair

Publication Integrity Week

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Diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility: COPE commentary

How COPE is working on diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility

COPE is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable culture, where all voices are welcomed and heard, and difference is celebrated. Through our words and actions, we have been working – and intend to continue working – for real change.

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Guest editorial: Data availability statements

This is a guest editorial and opinions may not reflect official COPE guidance or policies.

The gap between promise and reality

Jasmine Jamshidi-Naeini[1], Andrew W. Brown[2],[3], Wasiuddin Najam[1], Colby J. Vorland[1], Stephanie Dickinson[1], David B. Allison[1]

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Paper mills: United to act

A year ago, COPE and STM (the trade association for the worldwide academic publishing industry) undertook a study with Maverick Publishing Services, using data from publishers and interviews with stakeholders, to understand the scale of the problem of paper mills, and to consider what actions should be taken.

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COPE Trustee

Vacancies on the COPE Trustee Board

We are seeking applications for two vacancies on the COPE Trustee Board as we look to enhance the support we provide.

We are specifically seeking:

  1. candidates from outside the UK and the US, with a particular preference for those based in Africa, Asia or Latin America.

  2. candidates who are journal editors or individual members.

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UNITED2ACT Summit

Nature has published a report on the UNITED2ACT Summit held in May and organised by COPE and STM.

Stakeholders from across the research integrity spectrum gathered to discuss solutions to the paper mill problem. “It was the first time we had a group of people come together and co-create a set of actions which we’re going to take forward to combat this problem,” Deborah Kahn, COPE Trustee

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New flowcharts: ethical concerns in data publication

We are delighted to announce the launch of a series of practical flowcharts for journals and data repositories who are dealing with ethical concerns relating to data publication. Each of the four categories outlined in the 2021 recommendations has accompanying flowcharts for issues that occur before and after publication.

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COPE in 2023: Update

In January, we published a letter in COPE Digest where we recognised that, as ethical issues change and evolve, so must COPE.  We thus affirmed our commitment to reviewing a number of our processes to ensure they are fit for purpose. In this letter we give a brief update on progress in these areas.  

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Predatory behaviour in publication ethics

We’ve recently been seeing a lot of attention to predatory publishers, especially with reference to lists of predatory journals, and ‘safe lists’ (see COPE’s Officers’ Statement on identifying fake journals).

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Identifying fake journals

COPE believes that authors and institutions should treat lists of predatory (or fake) journals with the same degree of scrutiny as they do with the journals themselves.

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A PLACE for publishers

Over the past few months we have been working with Crossref, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) to build a hub for publishers with limited resources or little experience, to easily discover resources from each of the organisations in one place.

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Guest editorial: the challenge of AI chatbots for journal editors

One of us (RW) published an editorial in his journal on the use of ChatGPT in writing academic manuscripts. ChatGPT (a chatbot developed by OpenAI) was included in the author list in the interests of transparency.

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Artificial intelligence and authorship

There has been a tweet circulating recently which gives instructions on how to remove a peanut butter sandwich from a video recorder, written in the style of Biblical verse. It’s very funny – at least until you realise that it was written by an AI bot. At that stage it becomes very clever, but it loses all the humour.

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Artificial intelligence in the news

This page is regularly updated

Go to latest news update April 2023

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COPE in 2023

A time to review and look forward

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Letter from the COPE Vice-Chair: December 2022

In October, the Trustee Board, Council Members, and staff of COPE met in person for the first time since 2019 for a strategic and tactical discussion about current challenges in the field of publication ethics and research integrity; an evaluation of COPE’s role in addressing these challenges; and the policies and processes we need to implement to support them.

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Peer review week 2022: webinars

As part of Peer Review Week 2022, COPE hosted the webinar Practical steps for managing paper mills. The speakers give practical tips on how to manage systematic manipulation of the publication process, at scale, and describe their experience of dealing with paper mills affecting their journals,

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Responding to world events: ISMTE webinar

On Thursday 15 September, ISMTE held its delayed webinar on Responding to World Events, which had originally been conceived following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing issues faced by publishers and editors on whether to make public statements or how to join various sanctions placed on Russia.

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Revised Good Publication Practice guidelines published

The revised  Good Publication Practice” (GPP) guidelines is now freely available, published 30 August 2022

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Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2022

Welcome to our annual edition of Digest celebrating Peer Review Week (19-23 September). This year’s theme is “Research Integrity: Creating and supporting trust in research”.

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Paper mills in the news

The phenomenon of organised paper mills has been drawing greater attention over recent years across the academic publishing community, with improving detection tools revealing the extensive scale of these operations and the implications this has on the integrity of the research literature.

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In the news: July & August 2022

 

The news includes articles on compliance with data sharing statements, whether retractions affect public perception of the poor science, a game which encourages researchers to think about research integrity issues, and more. The news is gathered by COPE Council members.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: June 2022

Travel is once again becoming a part of my life. I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Cape Town, South Africa to participate in the 7th World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI). The 30-hour trip from New York to South Africa was well worth it. I loved reconnecting with professional colleagues that I had not seen in years and making new connections.

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In the news: May & June 2022

May and June 2022 news includes articles on peer review's role in uncovering scientific fraud, the data publishing ecosystem, the definitions of academic misconduct, and identifying fake research.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: April 2022

The world has been left reeling following Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. As a community of publishers, journal editors, and human beings, we are appalled and horrified by the violence we see in Ukraine and we support an immediate end to this conflict.

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Case discussion: critiques after publication

Is there a time limit for submitting a critique of a published article?

Case Summary

Time limit on critiques? case 22-02

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Guest article: Detecting integrity issues

Joris van Rossum discusses the problem of fraud and work on preventing it entering the academic record. 

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Guest article: Research misconduct

Jigisha Patel discusses the problem of research misconduct and the underlying research culture which drives misconduct.

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In the news: March & April 2022

March and April 2022 publication ethics news including articles on research integrity, ethical oversight, diversity equity and inclusion, and more

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Guest article: Avoiding predatory publishers

Some open access publishers charge an article-processing charge (APC), or other fees, that cover the range of publishing services that they provide, and this is a legitimate business model. These services may include: peer review; indexing journals so that articles are discoverable and citable; and preservation. Underpinning these services, trustworthy publishers will implement the policies and practices needed to reach high standards in publication ethics.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: February 2022

Happy New Year! Or at least Happy Lunar New Year to all.
 

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In the news: February 2022

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity, preprints, research integrity, and more. 

Preprints

This preprint describes the findings of a working group organised by ASAPbio that set out to define key features of preprint review processes.

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Tackling the problem of paper mills

Paper mills research project

Contribute to the research with your personal or professional experience of the problem.
Share your experience

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Information sharing about intentional research misconduct

What information publishers, research organisations and funders should share about allegations or cases of intentional research misconduct.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2021

As we rapidly approach the end of 2021 and prepare to turn the corner to 2022, COPE is releasing a new discussion document on Diversity and inclusivity, primarily written by our past-Chair, Deborah Poff.

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In the news: December 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity, equity and inclusion, authorship, journal management and more.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: November 2021

Hello one and all. It has been another busy couple of months for COPE. As we approach the end of the year, we are not only reviewing what we have achieved during 2021, but are also looking forward to our activities for the new year. 

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In the news: October-November 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on authorship and contributorship, data and reproducibility, peer review, and diversity, equity and inclusion. 

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Peer review resources

The theme of Peer Review Week 2021 is “Identity in peer review”and will no doubt provide lots of opportunities to learn and share, as well as important food for thought about this fundamental aspect of scholarly publishing. COPE has lots of peer review resources to help you develop good peer review practices for your journal; to recognise when the peer review process may be going awry; as well as providing reviewers with guidance on good review practices.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2021

Welcome everyone. Happy September. This is a very busy month with lots of activities going on, so without further ado I will jump right in.

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Editing peer reviews new guidance

Concerns about varying approaches to editing a submitted peer review were discussed in the COPE Education Committee in 2019 and we decided to address this issue. The Committee members were most concerned about the ethical implications of an editor choosing to completely withhold a submitted review if it didn’t conform to her or his own opinion. 

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Peer review diversity: survey

The theme of this year’s Peer Review Week is on ‘Exploring the multifaceted role of identity in peer review’.

To support this, COPE is reproducing its survey of 2018 on diversity and inclusion in peer review to compare whether attitudes, policies or practices have altered over the past three years.   

The survey is anonymous and open to members and non-members.

Take the survey

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In the news: September 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity, equity and inclusion, peer review, and predatory publishing. 

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Diversifying editorial boards

Find out why and how to diversity your editorial board.

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In the news: August 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on allegations of misconduct, authorship, ethical oversight and more. 

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In the news: July 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on artificial intelligence, open science, research culture, peer review, and more. 

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Letter from the COPE Chair: July 2021

Here we are, just past the halfway point of the year and the pandemic persists. We have seen great progress holding off COVID-19 in some regions of the world while others slide back as new strains appear. The UK is gearing up to remove COVID-19 based restrictions this month in an attempt to return to normal. But what is the new normal? Flexible work arrangements are becoming the norm and some companies have simply shifted away from centralised offices. And yet, COPE’s work continues.

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Post-publication conflicts of interest

Undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article: updated flowchart

The COPE flowcharts are consistently rated by members as being among the most useful and frequently consulted COPE resources. Available in different languages, they offer practical guidance to handle a variety of ethical issues encountered in scholarly publishing either before or after publication.

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Vacancies on COPE Council 2021

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In the news: June 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on intellectual property, preprints, peer review, and more. 

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Letter from the COPE Chair: May 2021

The year seems to be progressing so quickly. Here we are, it’s May already and my three-year term as Chair now begins. It is truly an honor to follow in the footsteps of, the now Past Chair, Deborah Poff, and to lead COPE forward toward its next stage. Deborah has been a wonderful mentor and guide.

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Case discussion: gift authorship

Prolific authors: case summary

Prolific authors case 07-04

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In the news: May 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on peer review, preprints, open access, and more. 

Authorship

This paper published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology and aimed at educating postgraduate scientists provides a useful summary of publication ethics including the responsibilities of authorship.

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In the news: April 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on corrections, diversity and inclusion, authorship, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: March 2021

Dear Digest Readers,

This is the last monthly edition of Digest. From April, Digest will be bimonthly. A new publication, for members only, will be published in alternate months, providing more in-depth exploration of resources, discussions and events that are relevant for our membership. Look out for the first issue of our new format next month. As always, we welcome your feedback on this new information sharing and your ideas of what you would like to see.

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Review of publisher's process in reviewing issues

COPE was asked by the publisher Wiley, a member of COPE, to review the process Wiley followed in reviewing the issues raised by the publication and removal of an essay in the journal Angewandte Chemie, particularly relating to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

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Reducing the inadvertent spread of retracted science

Post-retraction citation

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Facilitation & integrity: name changes

Summary of issue of concern raised to the Facilitation and Integrity subcommittee

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Text Recycling Research Project: update March 2021

Aims of the Text Recycling Research Project

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In the news: March 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on predatory publishing, diversity and inclusion, peer review, and more.

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Welcome new COPE Council Members

A warm welcome to five new Council Members to COPE. We asked each Council Member a few questions to get to know them a little better; read more on their profile pages.


(Photo credit Clayton MacGillivray)

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Letter from the COPE Chair: February 2021

Dear Readers,

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COPE collaboration with FORCE11 Working Group

Developing resources for research data publishing ethics

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In the news: February 2021

Publication ethics news February 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity and inclusion, peer review, paper mills, and more.

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COPE authorship workshop February 2021

Online cases workshop for COPE members only

Wednesday 10 February 2021

15:00-16:30pm (GMT); 10.00-11.30am (EST)

Wednesday 24 February 2021

09:00-10:30am (GMT); 17.00-18.30pm (AWST); 20.00-21.30pm (AEDT)

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Letter from the COPE Chair: January 2021

As we settle into 2021, COPE is planning a series of virtual interactive workshops, webinars, a virtual seminar, along with our regular quarterly Forums. A cycle of virtual activities will begin with an interactive workshop in February. As we did last year, the workshops will be repeated to accommodate members in different time zones. Stay tuned for our upcoming virtual offerings on various topics of interest to our membership. 

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A vision for a more trans-inclusive publishing world: guest article

High level principles for name changes in publishing

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Update on COPE guidance regarding author name changes

Author name changes working group

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Research data publishing ethics with FORCE11

COPE working with FORCE11 research data publishing ethics 

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In the news: January 2021

Publication ethics news January 2021

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on image manipulation, peer review, preprints, and more.

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Peer review cases: Spanish translations

Following positive feedback from our peer review workshops, we are pleased to introduce Spanish translations of the peer review cases used at the workshops, with advice from the COPE Forum.

Durante la Semana de la revisión por pares (#PeerRevWk20) celebramos un taller basado en cuatro casos que llegaron al COPE Forum para examen crítico y solicitud de asesoramiento porotros miembros COPE.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2020

Correction to December Digest (Vol 8 Iss.12)

In the December Digest Letter, we stated that “In May, arXiv, medRxiv, bioRxiv, and other preprint platforms adjusted their policies to not accept computational models so that the chances of misinformation or unhelpful information being posted would be reduced”.

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Top cases 2020

Most read cases and case discussions

Top five cases

Three of the top five most read cases on the COPE website in 2020 were related to authorship issues:

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In the news: December 2020

Publication ethics news December 2020

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity, peer review, predatory publishing, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: November 2020

As we enter the final months of this daunting year that is 2020, I would like to take a moment to look back at our Predatory Publishing discussion document, a year after its publication, to consider whether developments in attitudes or approaches have changed in this arena.

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In the news: November 2020

Publication ethics news November 2020

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news.This month the news includes articles on diversity, retractions, open access, and more.

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In the news: October 2020

Publication ethics news October 2020

Each month, COPE Council members find and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on changes in the publishing industry, open access, research integrity, and more.

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Vacancies on COPE Council

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Thank you and goodbye to Council members

We say a fond farewell to two of our Council Members, Seth Leopold after three years and Adrian Ziderman after seven, who have reached the end of their term with COPE. We thank them for all the work they have done over the past few years. 

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Letter from the COPE Chair: October 2020

Dear Readers,

I begin this month’s letter to you with the sad news that COPE Council Member, Dr Tracey Bretag, passed away this month. We refer you to our testimony about Tracey in this edition of Digest.

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Obituary: Tracey Bretag, COPE Council member

COPE, and all of us who are committed to academic integrity, lost a good friend last week. Dr Tracey Bretag passed away on 7 October 2020. Some of us knew Tracey as the Founding Editor of the International Journal for Educational Integrity. Members of the European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI) knew her as an active participant and speaker at their meetings. Many people use her valuable Handbook of Academic Integrity.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2020

Trust in peer review

September sees the sixth Peer Review Week taking place (21 - 25 September), which has now become something of an established fixture in the research community calendar. The theme for this year is ‘trust’; a focus which resonates strongly with the core values and goals of COPE, going hand in hand with ethical reliability and responsible leadership.

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In the news: September 2020

Each month COPE Council members gather and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on peer review, diversity and inclusivity, research integrity, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Vice-Chair: August 2020

This month we welcome Simon Linacre as our newest Trustee. Simon brings extensive experience in scholarly publishing (predatory publishing, open access, and book publishing), and in business and marketing. With over 20 years’ experience in the industry, we know that Simon will be an outstanding Trustee and we look forward to working with him.

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In the news: July 2020

Each month COPE Council members gather and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on text recycling, diversity and inclusion, preprints, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: July 2020

C4DISC

Dear Readers,

I would like to begin by welcoming our newest Trustee, Dr Suzanne Farley. Suzanne brings a wealth of experience in publication ethics and we are particularly interested in her knowledge with respect to open access. Welcome, Suzanne. We all look forward to working with you at COPE.

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Welcome to COPE's new Trustee

COPE's new Trustee Suzanne Farley

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Guest article: Self-plagiarism in philosophy

A quip heard in the hallways of some philosophy departments goes like this: when someone publishes a new book, a colleague says, “Congratulations! So, what are you calling it this time around?” With every witticism, there is some level of truth; my professional discipline of philosophy has been somewhat sluggish in addressing the problem of self-plagiarism.

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Publication ethics issues in education

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Letter from COPE: June 2020

At this time we pay our respects to the memory of George Floyd, whose brutal killing has amplified issues of systemic racism in our society. We wish to voice our horror and outrage at the egregious violence, injustice, and marginalisation faced by people of colour in the US and throughout the world. We support all who stand against prejudice and discrimination of any kind.

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In the news: June 2020

Each month COPE Council members gather and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on diversity, open access, COVID-19, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Vice-Chair: May 2020

I am delighted to have this opportunity to introduce myself to the broad readership of the Digest as the new Chair-elect of COPE, a position I will hold for a year before I become Chair of COPE. COPE is entering a critical phase in its life. The organisation has expanded rapidly, so we need to focus  on our strategic goals set out last year.

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New members: November 2019-April 2020

Welcome to new COPE members who have joined us as journal, publisher or associate members. New members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency. Signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices.

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Editing, reviewing and writing during COVID-19

We bring together support and guidance on issues that have come about during this crisis. The collection includes articles on how authors, editors and reviewers are handling their work during this period and guidelines developed in response to the changing environment and workflow.

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In the news: May 2020

Each month COPE Council members gather and share publication ethics news. This month the news includes articles on authorship, data sharing, COVID-19, and more.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: April 2020

COPE, like many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus. There is worldwide concern over COVID-19 and its impact on our daily lives, both personal and professional. Journal editors may be unsure of what to do in this unprecedented situation. How is COVID-19 affecting editors and publishers?

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Vacancies on COPE Trustee Board

We are seeking applications for two vacancies on the COPE Trustee Board as we look to enhance the support we provide. We have therefore highlighted gaps on the Trustee Board which we are keen to fill. 

We are specifically seeking:

  1. candidates with extensive experience and a proven record in open access publishing 

  2. candidates with in depth knowledge and experience of publishing in areas such as monographs, books, conference proceedings, theses, etc.

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COPE Members: update your member details

Page updated 14 October 2021

Have your contact details changed?

Do you have new staff at your journal?

Update the contact details for your journal on our website and ensure you and your colleagues can access all COPE resources.

Here's a quick guide to show you how to update your details, with step by step instructions:

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In the news: April 2020

Diversity & Inclusion

In a study of gender bias in 145 journals in various areas of research, including 1.7 million authors and 740,00 referees, these authors show that in biomedicine and health journals women authors were treated generally favourably by editors and reviewers. This is in contrast to social science and humanity journals. The authors advocate for gender diversity among reviewers and editors to mitigate the perception and reality of bias.     

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Welcome to new COPE Council members

Following our recent elections, we're delighted to welcome six new Council Members to COPE.

Each of our Council members brings their own experience, knowledge and skills to help us all work towards improving ethical practice in the publication of research in our community.

Eleanor Gendle

Executive Editor at The Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK

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Editing of reviewer comments: survey

Following our Forum discussion on this topic in March 2020, we would like to hear your views on an editor's ability to alter the contents of a submitted peer review.

Views from editors and publishers will form the basis of a COPE discussion document on the topic. Please fill in the short survey. 

Deadline to complete survey: Friday 27 March 2020

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/H5PRXGY

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Letter from the COPE Chair: March 2020

COPE, like many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus and we are sorry to inform you that our Trustee Board made the difficult decision to postpone our North American seminar planned for June 2020. Clearly, the health of our members and staff is our first priority, and we hope to announce a new date in 2021 in the coming months.

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Publication ethics issues in the social sciences

In 2019 COPE, with the support of Routledge (part of the Taylor & Francis Group), commissioned primary research with Shift Learning to better understand the publication ethics landscape for editors working on journals within the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The results from Social Sciences journals show which are the most serious, most widespread, most frequent issues, and those editors are least confident in dealing with.

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In the news: March Digest

Open Science

The United States Office of Science & Technology Policy recently posted a notice of request for information titled “Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting from Federally Funded Research.” Comments from stakeholders on approaches for broader access to federally funded research are due by March 16.

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Case discussion: Editing peer review comments

Peer reviewers provide their own intellectual property to the important work of reporting research. Sometimes, though, their comments may not align with a journal’s style or requirements, or can stray into the realm of what some call “hostile reviews”. Also, sometimes reviewers miss the mark and either do not understand the paper or parts of it, or include content that is factually incorrect. What is an editor to do in their effort to balance the interests of the authors, reviewers, journals

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Letter from COPE Vice-Chair: February 2020

This is my first opportunity to open the Digest, so welcome everyone. In this issue, we are releasing the final version of the COPE Strategy for 2020-2023. This document is the end product of months of hard work by your volunteers (COPE Council and Trustee Board) to develop a focus for the next three years. Our four strategic priorities over this period can be summarised as:

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In the news: February Digest

Misconduct

Translation plagiarism is a type of disguised plagiarism which occurs when authorship credit is taken by someone who republishes the work of someone else, but in a different language. The difficulty of identifying this type of plagiarism is explored and the potential damage done by it, in the field of philosophy, examined.

https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12188

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Predatory publishing: new discussion document

This new guidance from COPE gives an overview of the issue with recommendations and resources. COPE welcomes feedback and comments to continue this live and ongoing debate.

  • What is predatory publishing?
  • What are the commonly occurring features in predatory publications?
  • How can we avoid and raise awareness of the problem of predatory publications?

Read more and add your voice to the discussion

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Research integrity in China

China has become a formidable global leader in scientific—including medical—research, with the world's largest publication output, a rapid surge in the number of highly cited researchers, and an increasingly unparalleled quality of scientific publications.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: January 2020

Dear Digest Readers,

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J-STAGE Seminar, Japan

Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, represented COPE at the Second J-STAGE Seminar in Tokyo, Japan, on 21 October 2019, at the invitation of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).

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In the news: January Digest

Predatory Publishing

Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y

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COPE's retraction guidelines 2019

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Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2019

Dear Readers

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Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2019

Dear Readers

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In the news: December Digest

Open Access

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Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME): Xi'an, China

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Letter from the COPE Chair: November 2019

Dear Readers,

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In the news: November Digest

Ethical oversight

A revised concordat to support research integrity has been published. This aims to further assure government, business, international partners and the public that they can continue to have confidence in UK research. It calls for research institutions and researchers to ensure their work is underpinned by rigorous high standards.

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New Members: July-October 2019

We are delighted to welcome new members to to COPE. The new members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency and signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices.

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Vacancies on COPE Council

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Letter from the COPE Chair: October 2019

Dear Digest Readers,

The last week in September was a very busy one for COPE. We began our week of meetings in Leiden with the European Seminar and had 84 members in attendance. The theme on daily realities and future challenges was just that. We focused on a number of daily realities for our members.

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Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors Convention, China, 2019

Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, was invited to represent COPE at the 2019 Convention of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME) in Xi’an, China, on 4-5 September 2019.

On the first day, he delivered a keynote speech in a session on publication ethics and on the second day, he chaired a parallel session on journal evaluation.

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Thank you and farewell to Council Members

We say a fond farewell to our Council Members who have reached the end of their term with COPE and we would like to thank them for all the work they have done over the past few years.

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COPE workshop August 2019: Santiago, Chile

On August 29, the IV Scientific Editor’s Forum was held at the Universidad de Los Lagos, in Santiago, Chile. Over 100 editors mainly from social sciences, arts and humanities attended for a two-day meeting on publishing and editorial standards.

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In the news: October Digest

Academia

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Peer Review Resources: Peer Review Week 2019

Peer Review Week 2019 is themed "Quality in Peer Review". Some of COPE's resources are directed towards peer reviewers with guidance on how to peer review. COPE also has guidance for editors on how to identify peer review manipulation.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2019

The 16th-20th of September is Peer Review Week, with this year's theme Quality In Peer Review. This is now an anticipated time in the calendar for many of our members around the world and a number of events focus on issues related to peer review and publication ethics and integrity.

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When the peer review process goes sideways

The peer review system is complex and the results influence advancement of knowledge, patient care, policies, careers, future funding decisions, and more.  The triad of individuals involved in this system, authors, editors and reviewers, all have important roles to play to make sure this system works.  Some of these roles correspond to functions that affect the timeliness of review decisions, submission of a meaningful review, and clear communication of expectations of all of the participants

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Letter from the COPE Chair: August 2019

Dear Readers,

If you have been following one of our foci this year, you will have noticed an explicit commitment to diversity and inclusivity as a COPE theme. As a strategic goal of our last plan, we interpret this commitment broadly, including geographic diversity, gender diversity, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, ableism and breadth across the disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields of scholarly publishing. 

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Case Discussion: Possible plagiarism

Case Summary

Case 19-03

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Obituary: Patrick Barron, COPE Council member

We are very sad to inform you that Patrick Barron, COPE Council member since 2016, has passed away.

News

In the news: August

16.8.19

Research Ethics

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WCRI 2019: Predatory publishing plenary

On the last day of the World Conference on Research Integrity in Hong Kong in June, the afternoon plenary session chaired by Susan Zimmerman of the Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research in Canada explored predatory publishing, building on a summit in Ottawa two months earlier.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: July 2019

Is self-citation ever an ethical action for authors to do? Is there ever a justification for editors or reviewers to recommend citations to their own work or their own journal? These are just some of the topics addressed in the new, and about to be released, COPE discussion document on citation manipulation

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Welcome new COPE members April-June 2019

Welcome to our new members who have joined COPE between April and June 2019. The new members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency and signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices.

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Guest article: Inclusion in Scholarly Practice

Guest article

Written by Karin Wulf, Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture and William & Mary

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WCRI 2019: Preprints and their place in the publishing ethics landscape

WCRI session on preprints and their place in the publishing ethics landscape 

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In the news: July Digest

Allegations of misconduct

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Job vacancy: COPE web manager

COPE is looking for someone with website management and development experience to work with COPE as our Web Manager. It's a freelance role, working from home, up to 20 hours per week.

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COPE member survey 2019: we need your feedback

As we plan the activities of COPE for the next 3 years we need to hear from you, our members, to help us fully understand the burning issues facing our members today, as well as the issues you see looming on the horizon, what you think of the guidance and support COPE offers, and where you think COPE should be looking to provide more guidance over the next 3 years.

Please complete the survey which should take no longer than 10 minutes.  

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Election of COPE Trustees 2019: Your vote counts!

COPE's new Trustees will help shape the organisation for the benefit of our members. Vote for the candidates that best reflect your ambitions for COPE.

Following our recent notice regarding vacancies on the COPE Trustee Board, we are delighted to announce the shortlist for the two vacancies. Read a brief summary of each candidate together with their applications.

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Letter from the COPE Chair: June 2019

COPE has been spending a lot of attention over the past few months considering, discussing, and speaking on the issue of predatory publishing.

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WCRI 2019: Transparency 2025 panel

Transparency 2025: A panel discussion on new ideas to promote transparency in research*

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WCRI 2019: Responsible authorship panel

Summary of Responsible authorship panel at WCRI2019

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In the news: June Digest

10/06/19

Peer review

Peer review is the hallmark of scientific and scholarly publications. These authors explore 5 principles of good peer review and suggest ways for journals to use these to underpin best practices.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/leap.1222

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Letter from the COPE Chair: May 2019

I hope that everyone had the opportunity to read the April Digest letter from Geri and Chris, our steadfast COPE co-chairs for the past three years. They have provided leadership with integrity, with hard work and kept a very busy schedule of activities on behalf of COPE. And all on a voluntary basis. Chris and Geri will continue their roles as past Co-Chairs for the coming year.

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Allegations of Misconduct webinar summary, April 2019

Allegations of Misconduct

COPE Webinar 12 April, 2019

Watch and listen again to the recording of our Allegations of Misconduct webinar:

 

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Case discussion: Suspected plagiarism

Case 19-04 Suspected plagiarism

A single author submitted a paper to a journal. A similarity check revealed 48% similarity with another published paper. The published paper was by different authors—5 in total. The similarities between the papers were in the introduction, methods and discussion sections. The submitting author did not reference the published article.

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In the news: May Digest

Intellectual property

In a discussion paper posted on SSRN, Diana Simon, a Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, explores whether it is fair or helpful to try to generalise attitudes toward plagiarism across cultures?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3377725

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Vacancies on COPE Trustee Board

Date for applications has now closed.

We are seeking applications for two vacancies* on the COPE Trustee Board at an exciting time for the organisation as we look to expand into new areas. We have therefore highlighted gaps on the Trustee Board which we are keen to fill.

*On this occasion, we are NOT seeking to elect candidates from North America given our current complement of representation from this region.

We are specifically seeking:

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Reflections on the COPE North American Seminar 2019

Reflections on the COPE North American Seminar: Issues of inclusivity and diversity in scholarly publishing in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

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Exploring publication ethics in the arts, humanities, and social sciences: Initial research findings

Key Research Findings

In early 2019, COPE, working in partnership with Routledge (Taylor & Francis group), conducted an international survey of academic journal editors in the arts, humanities, and social sciences (AHSS), exploring the publication ethics issues specific to these disciplines.

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COPE Officers 2019-2021

Welcome

In May 2019, the current COPE Officers came to the end of their terms. We welcome the new officers and those officers moving to new roles, and look forward to working together for the next three years.

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In the news: April Digest

Research and Publication Integrity

Plagiarism detectors are good in assuring that true plagiarism is detected and that original papers are not flagged incorrectly.  “Horsefeathers!” asserts Debora Weber-Wulff. Buyer beware and it still takes a person to assess flagged articles.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00893-5?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20190328

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New COPE members Jan-March 2019

We are delighted to welcome journals and publishers who became members between January and March 2019. The new members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency and signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: April 2019

What we’ve learned: Reflections at the end of our term as COPE Co-Chairs


Image credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated Jerry Segraves-jerrysfoto.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-reflect.jpg
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International Workshop for Journal Editors, Indonesia

Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, was invited to represent COPE in two sessions at the 2019 International Workshop for Journal Editors in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Held from 25 to 27 March 2019 and attended by chief editors of about 150 journals, the event was co-organised by the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education and the Indonesian Association of Scientific Journal Editors.

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Website refresh

We've updated the engine behind the COPE website which will help users find what they're looking for more quickly. This means greatly improved search functionality, more granular filtering, simplified navigation throughout the site and a refreshed design. This will be the first release in a series to improve the browsing experience.

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Meeting Report: America Philosophical Association

Deborah Poff, COPE Vice-Chair and Chair Elect, recently presented COPE views on a variety of issues and activities related to publication ethics and philosophy. Deborah presented the current commitment of COPE to assess and respond to particular issues for editors and publishers in the humanities and social sciences which includes our current survey.

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In the news: March Digest

Authorship

A recent survey published in PLOS One of 6000 of the top cited authors examined how authorship is assigned, and what input was valued by the authors. The results demonstrate that people value activities beyond writing and analyzing data but the opinions are polarized.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198117

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: March 2019

Early in my academic career I was sent a publication in which my name appeared as a 5th author. The research was legitimate, conducted by a senior colleague, and I had participated in a small part of the research. I had not been involved in the writing of the paper, its final approval, or in signing the copyright agreement.

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Case Discussion: Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute - university perspective comment

The case we are highlighting this month involves an escalating authorship dispute as well as management of the post publication correction process Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute: 18-07. Cases brought to the COPE Forum are often complex and involve multiple problems, which is the case here.

News

Case Discussion: Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute

Case number18-07

The case we are highlighting for March involves an escalating authorship dispute as well as management of the post publication correction process (Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute: 18-07). Cases brought to the COPE Forum are often complex and involve multiple problems, which is the case here.

Case Summary

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DOIs for COPE guidance

COPE is in the process of assigning DOIs (digital object identifiers) to its resources, particularly Guidelines and Flowcharts. A digital object identifier (DOI) is like a digital fingerprint and provides a permanent link to our resources on the Internet making them individually discoverable and accessible.

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In the news: February Digest

Misconduct

A review of scholarly articles on the prevalence of ghost writing in scientific literature to be between 0.9% and 75%. Resources to address this such as the European Medical Writers Association ICMJE, and WAME are addressed.
http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/30/217/full/

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Understanding your needs: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS SURVEY HAS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to all who participated; see the results of the survey.

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Case discussion: Consequence for dual submission

This month’s highlighted case is about following up duplicate submission. In COPE Forum case number 17-20, journal A was informed by journal B that an author had withdrawn an accepted manuscript because it had already been accepted elsewhere. In fact, the manuscript had been published in journal A in the previous week. Records of the two journals revealed dual submission on the same day.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: February 2019

Hello, to a spectacular seminar and to our first look at COPE’s AHSS research

This month let’s have some hellos and goodbyes. Our hellos are to COPE’s growing emphasis in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

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Challenges and solutions: issues of inclusivity and diversity in the humanities and social sciences. COPE Seminar

Registration is now open to our North American Seminar in Philadelphia "Challenges and solutions: issues of inclusivity and diversity in the humanities and social sciences".

Register today

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New Journal Members October-December 2018

COPE is pleased to welcome journals who became members between October and December 2018. The new members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency and signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices.

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In the news: January 2019 Digest

Journal management

There has been much discussion of Plan S over the last month, especially since cOAlition S released their implementation guidance on 27th November
https://www.coalition-s.org/wp-content/uploads/271118_cOAlitionS_Guidance.pdf 

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Case Discussion: Editor and reviewers requiring authors to cite their own work

In this case, a staff member at a journal noted that a handling editor and her or his favorite reviewers frequently requested authors to cite the editor’s  and reviewers’ work in revised submissions. Once this was confirmed, the editor-in-chief consulted the editorial board who agreed that the requested citations were not scientifically necessary.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: January 2019

Journals vary greatly in almost all aspects of functioning; different disciplines, editorial roles, budgets and the size of journals will all influence how ethical issues are handled.

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COPE Members: update your details

It’s a new year and time for fresh starts, including making sure your COPE member details are up to date.

Have you had a change of staff? New staff join your journal? Or changed your work email contacts?

It’s quick and easy to update your details and ensure you and your colleagues can access all COPE resources:

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Survey reveals need for guidance on places to publish

A survey carried out by Think. Check. Submit. has revealed a strong demand from both researchers and librarians for guidance about where to publish and an appreciation of the services that the initiative offers.

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Diversity in Peer Review: Survey Results

Diversity in Peer Review

News

In the news: December 2018 Digest

Plan S analysis

News

Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: December 2018

New colours: Bringing people together to promote integrity and ethics in research publishing

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: November 2018

My initial introduction to COPE many years ago occurred when, as an editor of a peer reviewed journal, a reviewer called to my attention, a blatant example of fabrication in a manuscript in which years and volumes of references had been altered to make them more current. I contacted COPE, presented the case at a Forum, and received excellent advice and consultation. This ultimately resulted in numerous retractions of manuscripts published by this researcher, across three journals.

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In the news: November 2018 Digest

Post publication discussion and corrections

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European Policy Centre, PRO-RES Discussion

COPE Council member Mirjam Curno is invited to participate in the discussion "Developing an ethical framework for non-medical sciences". This is the first discussion within the framework of the PRO-RES project.

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Welcome new COPE Council Members

We are pleased to welcome four new members to COPE Council: Laura Wilson, Dr Daoxin Yin, Tim Devinney and Gavin Swanson. We are also delighted that Adrian Ziderman is to continue as Council member for a second term.

Laura Wilson is Head of Rights at Emerald Publishing. Laura is responsible for Emerald’s copyright and publication ethics policies and processes. Laura is based in Bradford, UK.

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Mediterranean Editors and Translators Meeting 2018

COPE council member Iria del Río shares her experience of the #METM18 conference where she was a keynote speaker, workshop presenter and attendee on the blog Signs and Symptoms of Translation. Here's an excerpt:

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Research Data: Institutions are key to management and post-publication concerns

Guest article

Susan Garfinkel, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President for Research Compliance, The Ohio State University

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A research integrity issue: Who are you going to call?

Guest article

Lauran Qualkenbush - President of ARIO and Director, Office for Research Integrity, Northwestern University

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Post-publication discussions and corrections focus

COPE’s Core Practice #10 – Post-publication discussions & corrections

To round out our year-in-review of COPE’s 10 Core Practices, we take a look at Core Practice #10 about Post-publication discussions & corrections:

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New: COPE Audit

Now updated to correspond with COPE's Core Practices!

As a COPE Member benefit, the COPE Journal Audit is designed to support and encourage editors to identify areas of their journal's policies and processes that may need to be revised so that they adhere to best practices in scholarly publishing.

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please

Predatory publishing

The next online COPE Forum, Monday 5 November 2018, 4pm-5.30pm (GMT), follows the usual format where members' cases are presented for discussion and advice from all those participating in the Forum. Register for the Forum (COPE members only)

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COPE at the Second International Summit on Medical Research and Publication & The First International Forum on Frontiers in Medicine

COPE Council member Jason Hu has spoken at The second International Summit on Medical Research and Publication & the First International Forum on Frontiers in Medicine, which was held in Wuhan China on September 16th 2018.

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In the news: October 2018 Digest

Journal Management

This month’s topic is “journal management” and on first blush, it isn’t obvious how the concept of “ethics” applies to this topic. I thought of things like selection and implementation of a manuscript manager, paying bills, identifying reviewers, etc. But when I got past my concrete thinking it’s clear journals must be managed based on fundamental ethical principles. These include: Autonomy, Justice, beneficence, non-malfeasance.

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Editor to Editor support for Journal Management

Guest article

Peggy L. Chinn, RN, PhD, FAAN and Leslie H. Nicoll, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN

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Journal management focus

COPE Education Subcommittee focus - COPE core practice # 8, journal management

COPE core practice # 8 on journal management recommends that

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Letter from COPE Vice-Chair: October 2018

COPE was well represented at two very important meetings this September. The first “Seeking Solutions in Research Integrity: A View from All Perspectives” was a day long Research Integrity Summit hosted by Ohio State University.

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Principles of Transparency translations: Spanish and Portuguese

The Principles of Transparency have now been translated into Spanish (Latin American) and Portuguese:

Principles of Transparency: Latin American Spanish

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COPE member survey: Diversity in Peer Review

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In the news: September 2018 Digest

Peer review processes

Is there a problem around diversity and inclusion in peer review?
#PeerReviewWeek18
https://twitter.com/PeerRevWeek/status/1031911897149394944

Gender and international diversity improves equity in peer review
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/29/400515

News

Peer review focus

Not surprisingly, COPE has substantial resources available regarding peer review and peer review processes are one of our 10 core practices. Peer review comes in many shapes and forms, and the process varies widely among different publications. The fundamental principle of transparency is critical given this variety. COPE asserts that the peer review process must be “transparently described and well managed”.

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Peer Review Week 2018: new and revised COPE resources

Peer Review Week 2018 offered us an opportunity to consider this year’s theme of Diversity in multiple ways and to reflect on what gaps in our resources might exist. Here is a list of what we reviewed, completed, and revised related to peer review.

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New: Spanish resources

COPE peer review resources: Spanish

Spanish translations of COPE resources: flowcharts, ethical guidelines for peer reviewers, How to Spot Manipulation of the Peer Review Process, What to Consider when asked to Peer Review a Manuscript, What Constitutes Authorship? discussion document and our Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

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COPE endorses EASE SAGER guidelines

COPE endorses the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines developed by the European Association of Science Editors (EASE). 

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: September 2018

#PeerReviewWeek18

Peer Review Week 2018, is here! And the question PRW is asking us all is “What does diversity mean to you?”

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COPE at Wiley research seminar, Japan

Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, gave an invited plenary talk titled “Research Publication Ethics - Best Practices for all Stakeholders” at the

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APAME and CASE Joint Convention 2018: Report

Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, was invited to deliver two talks at the 2018 Joint Convention of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME) and Council of Asian Science Editors (CASE) in Bogor, Indonesia.

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Think. Check. Submit. Survey 2018

Think. Check. Submit. helps researchers identify trusted journals for their research. Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications.

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Chile Seminar: CANCELLED

COPE has cancelled the COPE Chile Seminar on October 2, 2018. It will be rescheduled to a later date.

We will take this chance to organise a sustainable approach to our presence and services in South America, something we recognise as part of our commitment to providing education and resources to editors and publishers globally. COPE has recently completed the translation of our basic materials to Spanish. These materials will be widely disseminated and freely available to all.

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In the news: August 2018 Digest

Citations

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Research Integrity, Sixth Report of Session 2017-19 from the House of Commons

Following a 10 month inquiry, the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has issued recommendations to strengthen requirements and improve compliance with the existing 2012 Concordat to Support Research Integrity [full report].

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Citations: Link, Locate, Discover, Connect

Guest article

Written by Marie E. McVeigh, Product Director, JCR  and Nandita A. Quaderi, Editor-in-Chief, Web of Science

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: August 2018

#CitationManipulation

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Vacancies on COPE Council

We are seeking applications for a position on COPE Council. We have six vacancies. In line with COPE’s strategic goals and our obligations to meet the needs of all our members, we have highlighted gaps on Council which we are keen to fill.

*On this occasion, we are not seeking to elect candidates from North America. In addition, we will not consider applications from candidates whose discipline is primarily medicine, science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: July 2018

Transparency 2020: Operational transparency, and research transparency

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In the News: July Digest

Intellectual property

Preprints are one of the fastest growing types of content, at around 30% a year for the last two years, compared to 2-3% article growth during the same period.
https://www.crossref.org/blog/preprints-growth-rate-ten-times-higher-than-journal-articles/

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Creating and implementing research data policies: COPE webinar report

COPE held its third educational webinar for members on 2 July 2018. Titled ‘Creating and implementing research data policies’, the hour-long webinar was about the practicalities and challenges of choosing data sharing policies for journals and ensuring authors and reviewers adhere to the policies.

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Intellectual property focus

The seventh of COPE’s ten Core Practices is about intellectual property . It states:

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COPE at CSE Annual Meeting, New Orleans USA

COPE Council members participated in several discussions at the Council of Science Editors (CSE) annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

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COPE at COMPARE Life Sciences Workshop on Authorship, UK

“Communication let me down…”

Well it may do (to borrow a lyric from ‘Communication’ by Spandau Ballet), but it doesn’t have to, if communication channels are kept open. That was the take home message following a stimulating afternoon tackling some big questions around authorship with early career researchers of the joint COMPARE (Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors) initiative.

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In the news: June 2018 Digest

Ethical Oversight

The Science and Technology Committee of the UK House of Commons met on May 8, 2018 to discuss research integrity.  The transcript and a video of the meeting is available on The Science and Technology Committee.

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COPE Forum discussion: Preprints: continuing the conversation

Preprint platforms have been common in physics and mathematics but the preprint landscape is changing rapidly with new platforms emerging across various disciplines. This raises opportunities for discussion across communities and for all those involved: preprint platforms, journals, authors, funders and institutions.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: June 2018

I once witnessed a heated discussion between a director of research and a clinical director in a community health care clinic. The clinical director was questioning a proposed quality improvement study, investigating employee bias around sensitive patient care information and the influence of employee attitudes on the delivery of health care.

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Ethical oversight focus

This month in our ongoing exploration of COPE’s core principles, we focus on Core Practice #6: Ethical Oversight. COPE’s general statement on this core practice reads as follows:

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COPE Forum: 8 August 2018

Submit a case

The next COPE Forum will be a face to face meeting at the INANE Conference in Boston on 8 August,1.30-4.30pm. All COPE members are welcome to join this Forum in person, whether or not you are attending INANE. It will follow the usual format where members' cases are presented for advice and a Forum discussion topic.

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Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: May 2018

Starting the conversation: Outcomes from a research integrity workshop for research institutions, editors and publishers

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Changes to data regulations: GDPR

On 25th May, an update to the 1993 Data Protection Act will come into force. This is known as the GDPR. You have probably heard of it as most of the websites, apps and services that we all use on a day-to-day basis are updating their privacy policies and sending out notices like this one.

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COPE at Sense about Science workshop. Peer review: the nuts and bolts

On Friday April 27th, Sense about Science, Voice of Young Science and SAGE Publications hosted a workshop for early career researchers to find out more about peer review.

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COPE Asia-Pacific Workshop 2018: Report

COPE Council Member Michael Wise was an invited speaker at the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors 2018 Asian-Pacific Conference, which was held on 27-28 March 2018 at the Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay.

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In the news: May 2018 Digest

Conflicts of Interest

An article in HealthNewsReview.org discusses a paper published in the BMJ which was widely picked up in the news, but where the peer reviewers had close affiliations with the authors, and wonders if there are wider unexamined conflicts of interest in peer review.

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Conflicts of interest focus

COPE’s Core Practice #4 on conflicts of interest / competing interests states: “There must be clear definitions of conflicts of interest and processes for handling conflicts of interest of authors, reviewers, editors, journals and publishers, whether identified before or after publication”.

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COPE Forum: 30 April 2018

Register for the COPE Forum that will take place on Monday 30 April from 4-5.30pm (BST).

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In the news: April 2018 Digest

Included in the news this month are articles related to April's theme of "Complaints and appeals”, together with authorship, code of ethics, retractions and preprints.

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Complaints and appeals

“Journals should have a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher”. This refers to COPE’s Core Practice #3 and it is good advice and might be the only advice you need if all human beings operated solely with agreed upon objective and rational principles and facts.

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Complaints and Appeals focus

COPE’s core practice # 3 recommends that: 

“Journals should have a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher.”

Such complaints can take many forms (there are 133 cases in the COPE case database), some fairly common and straight forward, others less so.

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Australia Seminar, 30 May 2018

Registration has been extended to 25 May 2018.

Register for our Australia Seminar on 30 May 2018. #C0PEAustralia

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Research Cluster in Applied Research Ethics & Integrity

Chris Graf, COPE co-Chair is giving the keynote speech at this conference on at the University of Kent (UK) on 4 April 2018. The conference will formally launch the Cluster to University of Kent students and academics.

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Authorship and Contributorship focus: an editor view and research institution view

Two perspectives

COPE Education Subcommittee focus—what does it mean to be an author?

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Authorship, a blunt tool: "20 Jahre Research Integrity in Deutschland Was hat sich verändert? Wie geht es weiter?"

Volunteers from COPE Council often join workshops, where we listen to the challenges faced by members of the communities COPE serves, and where we share insights from COPE and the resources we make available (like our cases, our flowcharts, our guidelines).

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In the news: March 2018 Digest

Included in the news this month are articles related to March's theme of "Authorship and Contributorship", together with conflicts of interest, data and reproducibility, ethical oversight and peer review

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Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing version 3

Criteria on which membership applications are evaluated.

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February Forum: agenda and discussion topic

The first COPE Forum of the year will take place on 26 February from 4-5.30pm (GMT). 

We begin with a discussion on Expressions of Concern, followed by an update on existing cases. The cases and discussion document are now available with the Forum agenda. You are invited to make comment on the discussion document whether or not you are attending the Forum.

Agenda and materials

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Expressions of Concern: Forum discussion topic

How should journals use expressions of concern? They are “used to raise awareness to a possible problem in an article”. They are a relatively new, rare, and non-standardized type of editorial notice compared to corrections or retractions and “considerable differences in policy and practice remain between journals”.

Journals are grappling with when expressions of concern are appropriate and what happens if the concerns are later found not to be valid. 

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Opinions on opinions

Two of COPE’s core principles from its mission statement are to “provide leadership in thinking on publication ethics” and to “offer a neutral, professional voice in current debates.” We think it is important in an intellectual climate that is challenged by many polarizing views to comment explicitly on COPE’s role in addressing contentious issues within publication based on our principles of neutrality and professionalism.

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Collaboration

The thread running through this month’s Digest is collaboration. In simple terms, collaborative work is distributed work across many individuals, institutions, or businesses. Collaboration implies individuals or groups sharing their expertise to solve problems, create new solutions, and explore new horizons. COPE embodies the ethos of collaboration to accomplish its mission of promoting integrity in research and its publication.

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In the news: February 2018 Digest

“In the News” this month focuses primarily on topics related to the February’s theme: Data and Reproducibility. Items related to these topics get a bit more attention at the beginning of this list but other newsworthy items are listed at the end, more as snippets of information!

Data

How open data can help the world better manage coral reefs.

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Data and reproducibility: The role of research institutions

To achieve greater transparency, replicability, and trust in scientific findings, research authors are increasingly expected to enhance textual reporting by providing associated data and materials. This growing expectation has focused attention towards the appropriate handling of research data. Of particular note are the topics highlighted on COPE’s website on Core Practice in Data and Reproducibility:

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Data and reproducibility focus

COPE’s Core Practice #5: data and reproducibility

We continue a closer examination of COPE’s individual core practices this month with a focus on Data and Reproducibility (Core Practice #5) 

“Journals should include policies on data availability and encourage the use of reporting guidelines and registration of clinical trials and other study designs according to standard practice in their discipline.”

News

COPE Asia-Pacific Workshop, Singapore

Following on from the success of previous workshops in Singapore and Beijing, COPE is delighted to announce another half day workshop, in collaboration with ISMTE (International Society of Managing and Technical Editors), on Wednesday 28 March 2018, at the Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay.

The theme of the workshop is "Publication ethics". Editors, publishers, authors and all those interested in publication ethics are welcome to attend.

News

COPE Forum February: submit a case

Submit a case to our first COPE Forum of the year, for discussion and advice from members. 

In addition to cases, the discussion topic will be 'Expressions of Concern'.

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COPE position statement on censorship

  • COPE subscribes to and promotes the principles of academic freedom and editorial independence that underpin the pursuit of knowledge inherent in research and academic work.
     
  • COPE understands that some countries have made requests or instituted practices that interfere with and restrict the communication and distribution of scientific research results. This conflicts with principles to which COPE subscribes.
     
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Research integrity and how to buy a Persian carpet: TOP Guidelines, part 2

Transparency and Openness (TOP) Guidelines, part 2, are now in an ongoing draft Google doc for you to review. Here’s what they’re all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the news: January 2018 Digest

Authorship

In the era of Team Science, careful attention to authorship criteria is critical
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2667044

News

Allegations of misconduct focus

COPE’s Core Practice #1: Allegations of misconduct

Following on from our introductory overview of COPE’s Core Practices in the December issue of COPE Digest, this month we focus on the first core practice: Allegations of misconduct. The general statement describing this core practice is that:

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COPE speaking events 2018

COPE speaking events 2018

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December 2017 news

Humans Run Experiments, a Robot Writes the Paper

The future of automated scientific writing is upon us--and that's a good thing.
Robot writes paper

 

Fostering Integrity in Research

A consensus study report of The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine.

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COPE delegation, Beijing, 2017

A COPE delegation comprising the COPE co-Chair and Vice-Chair, Chris Graf and Deborah Poff, along with China based COPE Council members, Helena Wang and Jason Hu, and Japan based Council member Trevor Lane, me

t with some of China’s leading science and research organisations in Beijing last month.

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New: Facilitation and Integrity Subcommittee

The COPE complaints process was established in 2010 (revised in 2014) as a means of providing independent guidance on disputed matters of publication ethics for our member editors and publishers.

While the members of the Complaints subcommittee have worked tirelessly to provide advice and to assist in resolving complaints brought to the subcommittee's attention, often those results have been frustrated by issues including:

News

Core Practices

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Guidelines for Peer Reviewers Chinese version updated

COPE's Chinese verison of the Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers have now been updated. The update reflects invited input from the publication ethics community and institutions in the COPE membership pilot, and replaces the previous translation.

News

Hong Kong University join COPE's pilot initiative

We are delighted to announce that Hong Kong University is now part of COPE's pilot that will help form a membership package of support and advice for research institutions.

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AGM 2017

At COPE's recent AGM in November, Zoë Mullan, Ginny Barbour, Sally Weatherill and Adrian Ziderman stepped down as Trustees of COPE, at the end of their term. It is only possible to do the work of COPE with our hugely committed Trustees and we thank them for all their work.

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Self-Citation: Where's the Line? - Forum discussion 13 November 2017

We'll be discussing "Self-Citation: Where's the Line?" during the COPE Forum on 13 November. You are welcome to add your comments on this topic before the Forum, whether or not you are planning on attending the Forum.

Members and non-members please leave your comments.

Read more and add comments

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Issues in peer review seen at COPE

What are the main issues in peer review?
 
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Addressing the issues in peer review - LSE Impact Blog post

Post on LSE Impact Blog by Elizabeth Moylan and Charon Pierson "Addressing the issues in peer review - new guidelines available from COPE".

Read blog post

 

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New flowchart: What to Consider When Asked to Peer Review a Manuscript

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New flowchart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Data Sharing Policies in Scholarly Publications: Interdisciplinary Comparisons

Download pdf of poster

COPE-funded research, presented as an abstract at the Peer Review Congress, 10-12 September 2017, Chicago.

We are follow up this COPE funded research by producing a discussion document on the issues surrounding data sharing policies and this is expected to be ready by early next year.

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An analysis of peer review cases brought to COPE from 1997-2016

Elizabeth Moylan, COPE Council member, presented this abstract as a poster at the COPE at the Peer Review Congress, 10-12 September 2017, Chicago. 

An analysis of peer review cases brought to COPE from 1997-2016

Download pdf of poster

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COPE pilot initiative: institutional membership

COPE has invited four institutions to take part in a COPE pilot that will help form a membership package of support and advice for research institutions: Caltech, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and University of Ottawa, and Queensland University of Technology.

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COPE shortlisted for Publons Sentinel Award: outstanding advocacy, innovation or contribution to #PeerReview

An the winner is...Irene Hames, advocate and educator of peer review and publication ethics. Congratulations Irene, a well-deserved award for all your work in the field of peer review.

Read more

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COPE Webinar: Current Issues in Peer Review, Thursday 14 September 4-5pm (BST)

As part of this year's Peer Review Week we're running a webinar: Current Issues in Peer Review. We will be discussing the topical issues in peer review that are faced by COPE members and have three guest speakers who will present their views, given their experience in this area.

Read more & register

 

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Call for cases - November COPE Forum

Our next COPE Forum, where we discuss cases submitted by members, will be held by webinar on Monday 13 November 2017.

Cases need to be submitted by Monday 30 October.

Submit a case

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August edition of Digest out now

August Digest out now includes the recording of our first webinar on authorship, a summary of the Forum preprint discussion, developments on peer review guidelines and our monthly news roundup.

Read COPE Digest August issue

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Standards in Authorship

Standards in authorship webinar, watch again:

The pdf of the Standards in Authorship presentations is also available.

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Welcome new COPE Council members

The results of our recent Council elections have been confirmed and we are pleased to welcome two new members to Council: Howard Browman and Frits Rosendaal.

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Forum discussion topic: Preprints: what are the issues?

Preprints and working papers have been posted and shared for many years. They report research results that have not undergone peer review, although in many cases the authors also submit to a journal (before, after or at the same time as making a preprint available). In the past 5 years, the number of preprint servers and preprints has expanded and new disciplines, notably biology and life sciences, have seen rapid growth in the number of preprints.

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Vote for COPE Council members

Voting for the 2 vacancies on COPE council is now open.

Following our recent call for nominations, we are delighted to have received so much interest from members. The Nominations Subcommittee has carefully and thoroughly reviewed all the applications against the criteria in our call, and has produced a shortlist of 7 candidates to put forward for election.

More information and vote

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Standards in Authorship webinar summary

Standards in authorship

COPE Webinar 29 June, 2017

Watch and listen again to the recording of our Standards in Authorship webinar.

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Your comments on Discussion Document: What Constitutes Authorship?

COPE is updating its discussion document What constitutes authorship?

This document aims to stimulate discussion about the issue to help inform the debate and provide guidance where needed. We encourage journal editors, reviewers, researchers, institutions, funders and third party services to comment (whether or not they are COPE members). 

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RePAIR Consensus Guidelines

Following a call for comments on the RePAIR Consensus Guidelines, they have now been updated.
RePAIR Consensus Guidelines

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Standards in authorship webinar

On Thursday 29 June 2-3pm we're holding our first webinar for information, shared discussion and practical advice on common authorship issues faced by COPE members.

Three guest speakers will present their views: Deborah Poff, Editor-in-Chief Journal of Academic Ethics; Kelly Cobey Senior Clinical Research Associate at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada; Liz Allen, Director of Strategic Initiatives at F1000.

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Authorship and politics

At the beginning of 2017, political activity globally has begun to impinge on academia in ways that are both troubling and novel.

Academic freedom being challenged is, of course, not new. In the USSR the repression of science by the state was routine. In the not too distant past a chilling effect on academic research in the USA was well documented and the current political climate there appears to pose considerable challenges to academic freedom.

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Vacancies on COPE Council

Due to three council members coming to the end of their first term on council, we are seeking nominations for three new candidates. We are specially seeking candidates from Mainland Europe, Scandinavia and South America, and from the social sciences/humanities areas.

The closing date for applications is: 28 April 2017

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COPE Forum 24 April 2017

Register for 24 April Forum

Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the cases being discussed.

We present the same cases at both forum to allow more of our membership to attend. Register as soon as possible as the webinar is limited to 100 attendees.

Deadline to register: Friday 21 April

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New: Chinese resources

Chinese translations of publication ethics resources.

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New: COPE guidance

Our new guidance, Best Practices for Ensuring Consent for Publishing Medical Case Reports, is now available. In February 2016 we published a discussion document, inviting members to add their comments. These comments have been used to help develop the guidance document.

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Comments please: framework for editors when requesting patient consent for publication in small cohort studies

The International Rhuematology Editors' Group would like to receive comments from wider specialty communities on their framework below. Please send any comments to Shehnaz Ahmed.

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COPE European Seminar: The changing face and future of publication ethics

Join us at our European Seminar to celebate 20 years of COPE.

Location

The Seminar is at 20 Cavendish Square, London on 25 May 2017.

Registration

The Seminar is free for COPE members, £300 for non-members. 

Register today

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COPE Forum 3 February: Register & agenda

Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the cases being discussed. Register now as the Forum is limited to 100 attendees.

Deadline to register: Thursday 2 February

Register 4pm Forum

4 - 5.30pm GMT

 

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New: Polish Flowcharts

COPE's flowcharts help editors apply COPE's principles of publication ethics outlined in the Core Practices when faced with cases of suspected misconduct.

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Peer Review Week

The 2nd Peer Review Week will be held from 19th to 25th September 2016. This year’s theme is Recognition for Review, exploring all aspects of how those participating in review activity – in publishing, grant review, conference submissions, promotion and tenure, and more – should be recognized for their contribution.

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Authorship issues

In this Authorship Discussion Document we look at existing guidelines, some basic principles to help prevent common problems and particular issues that need more nuanced consideration. The discussion helps form an answer to the question, what constitutes authorship?

 

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New! Discussion document on Consent for Publishing Medical Case Reports

COPE has published a new discussion document ‘COPE guidance on best practice for consent for publishing medical case reports’. This discussion document aims to lay out the principles that a consent form should generally include, and to collect examples of sample forms so that editors can develop a form that suits their purpose.

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COPE North American Seminar August 10, 2016 'Ethics in peer review'

COPE is delighted to announce its 7th North American Seminar, which will be held in collaboration with ISMTE (International Society of Managing and Technical Editors), on Wednesday August 10, 2016, at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA USA.

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Applications for COPE Ombudsman

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is looking to appoint a new Ombudsman to ensure that COPE carries out its stated mission in a fair, expedient, and transparent manner, and that its Council and Trustees are acting in the best interests of the organisation and its members. Applicants should not be a member of COPE.

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Forum discussion topic: Data Sharing

The topic for discussion at the next Forum (12 February 2016, 3.00pm GMT - more details to follow shortly) is ‘Data sharing’. Data sharing is increasingly viewed as an essential step in improving research transparency and reproducibility. There has been a lot of discussion on the imperative for data sharing in the biomedical arena, particularly of publicly funded research. As a result, there are many disciplines where proposals for data sharing are being discussed.

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Revised and updated: A short guide to ethical editing for new editors

COPE's A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors has been fully revised and updated.  The guide aims to summarise key issues and provide advice and resources for new editors.  

The revised guide can be found here.

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COPE Forum Meetings 2016

The quarterly COPE Forum meetings, where we discuss cases submitted by members, will take place in Februray, May, August and November. The Forums will be by webinar, except for the August Forum, which will be a face to face meeting in London during the INANE conference. 

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COPE Forum: 9 December 2015

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Wednesday 9 December 2015, 12noon–1.30pm (GMT). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. The agenda and materials can be downloaded here (PDF 478kb).

The invitation to join the webinar is below. We can accommodate up to 100 attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion.

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NEW! Discussion document on handling competing interests

This guidance has been drafted following a COPE Discussion Forum on handling competing interests.

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COPE endorsement of TOP Guidelines

COPE came into being to be help editors handle issues in publication ethics, with the underlying aim of ensuring the integrity of the published literature. Thus it has long supported initiatives that lead to better reporting of research, including for example the EQUATOR network.

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COPE logo

Did you know that you can now download a unique COPE logo for your journal or website?

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Two new flowcharts and two revisions

In collaboration with BioMed Central, COPE has developed two new flowcharts on how to respond to whistle blowers: 1) when concerns are raised directly (http://publicationethics.org/files/RespondingToWhistleblowers_ConcernsRaisedDirectly.pdf), and 2) when those concerns are raised via social media (

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COPE endorses GPP3

COPE endorses Good Publication Practice for Communicating Company-Sponsored Medical Research: GPP3[1].

Authors working in corporate–academic research collaborations must follow appropriate ethical standards. GPP3 describes such standards, and promotes the ethical practices established by organisations like COPE, ICMJE, and WMA. 

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COPE statement on Frontiers

Like the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) does now, COPE has a rigorous and stringent process for scrutinizing members before they are accepted and we review this process as needed. Frontiers has been a member of COPE since January 2015.

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COPE Forum: 9 September 2015

The next COPE Forum meeting is on Wednesday 9 September, 3pm–4.30pm (British Summer Time) at The Montcalm London Marble Arch, 2, Wallenberg Place, London, W1H 7TN

The agenda and materials are now available to download (PDF 486kb).

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Who “owns” peer reviews?

The Forum discussion topic on Wednesday 9 September is ‘Who “owns” peer review?’. Click below to learn more and please do leave your comments.

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Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing: revised and updated

In early 2014, COPE, together with Directory of Open Access Journals  (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), published a minimum set of criteria for journals and publishers to be assessed against when they apply for membership at one of our organisations.

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COPE Forum: 10 June 2015

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Wednesday 10 June, 10am–11.30am (British Summer Time). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. Click here for full details.

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please

The Forum discussion topic, on Wednesday 10 June, is “Prior publication and theses”. Click below to learn more and please do leave your comments.http://publicationethics.org/forum-discussion-topic-comments-please-3

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COPE Workshop at 4th WCRI, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 31–June 3, 2015

COPE will be leading a workshop at the 4th World Conference on Research Integrity in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on publication ethics for editors, members of editorial boards and reviewers on Sunday May 31, 2015. This is an excellent opportunity for participants to discuss current trends in publication ethics, learn about how to handle possible misconduct and improve the quality of their reviews.

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New guidelines from COPE: Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct

New guidelines from COPE on 'Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct' can be found here: http://publicationethics.org/files/Sharing%20_of_Information_Among_EiCs_....

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COPE Forum: 10 March 2015 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Tuesday 10 March, 3–4.30pm (GMT). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. Click here for full details

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COPE Forum: 10 June 2015 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Wednesday 10 June 2015, 9am–10.30am (British Summer Time). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. The agenda and materials can be downloaded here (PDF 712kb).

The invitation to join the webinar is below. We can accommodate up to 100 attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion.

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Coming back from disgrace

The Forum discussion topic on Tuesday 10 March is “Coming back from disgrace”. Click to learn more and please do leave your comments,

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. February 2015 (Vol. 3, Issue 2)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read.

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COPE position statement on inappropriate manipulation of peer review processes

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)  has become aware of systematic, inappropriate attempts to manipulate the peer review processes of several journals across different publishers.

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Nuffield Council on Bioethics report on the on The Culture of Scientific Research in the UK

We welcome the report from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics: The Culture of Scientific Research in the UK. It is timely, coming as it does when there is increased scrutiny of the scientific literature, and importantly an increasing recognition of the need to address fundamental issues such as the lack of reproducibility in science.

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COPE Forum: 9 December 2014 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Tuesday 9 December 2014, 9–10.30am (GMT). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. The agenda and materials can be downloaded here (PDF 709kb).

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Publication ethics issues in the social sciences

The Forum discussion topic on Tuesday 9 December is “Publication ethics issues in the social sciences”. Click here to learn more and please do leave your comments

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. November 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 11)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read

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Second International Congress on Publication Ethics, Shiraz, Iran, 4–5 December 2014

The Second International Congress on Publication Ethics will be held in Shiraz, Iran, on 4–5 December 2014. This is a scientific partnership between COPE and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All individuals working in the field of scientific medical publications as well as those interested in ethical approaches to scientific publications are welcome to attend.

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Publication ethics: fraud and misconduct

This ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Training Course has been developed in collaboration with COPE.

The training course will take place on Wednesday 5 November 2014, West One, London. The tutors include former COPE chair Liz Wager and Donna Neill (Wiley–Blackwell Publishing).

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. October 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 10)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read.

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What constitutes authorship? New COPE discussion document

A new discussion document looking at some of the issues around authorship has been published by COPE.

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 23 September 2014 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Tuesday 23 September, 3–5pm (British Summer Time). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. Download the agenda and materials here (PDF, 805kb). The invitation to join the webinar is below. We can accommodate up to 100 attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion.

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. September 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 9)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read.

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FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Standard retraction form

The Forum discussion topic on Tuesday 23 September is related to producing a “Standard retraction form”. Read more and please do leave your comments.

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Text recycling guidelines for editors

A common issue encountered by editors is overlap of text with an author’s own previously published work, particularly with the increasing use of plagiarism detection software. This practice is known as ‘text recycling’ (also sometimes referred to as ‘self-plagiarism’). Opinions on the acceptability of text recycling vary greatly and it can be a challenge for editors to know how to deal with it once it has been identified.

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New COPE council members appointed

COPE is very pleased to announce the appointment of two new COPE council members, Christopher Leonard and Muhammad Irfan. Following our recent call for nominations, two candidates were short-listed by council following an interview. In accordance with our regulations, where the number of short-listed candidates is equal to the number of vacancies (ie, the candidates are unopposed), the nominees are appointed if approved by a majority of the members of Council.

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COPE North American seminar 13 August 2014

Register for COPE's 5th North American seminar, which will be held in collaboration with ISMTE (International Society of Managing & Technical Editors), on Wednesday 13 August 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. For more details and to register, see here

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 8 July 2014 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 8 July 2014 here (PDF, 506kb)

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. June 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 6)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read.

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COPE Australian Seminar 23 June 2014

COPE is delighted to announce its 3rd Australian Seminar, which will take place at the Karstens Melbourne Conference Rooms, 123 Queen Street, Melbourne, Australia, on Monday 23 June 2014. The theme of the seminar is “Publication ethics from student to professional”. For more information and to register, click here.

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. May 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 5)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website. Click here to read.

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. April 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 4)

The latest issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice is now available on the COPE website.  Click here to read.  

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Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for two new candidates. These are voluntary positions. Council is responsible for COPE’s policy and management. Council members are required to attend four meetings a year (two of which will usually be in person in London; the others may be attended by phone or other media). There is also a strategy meeting every 18/24 months which Council Members are expected to attend in person.

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New COPE Discussion Document published

COPE has published a new discussion document on 'Sharing of information among editors-in-chief regarding possible misconduct'. (Click here for the document).

News

NIH grant requests journal editors experiences of retractions

A request for information (RFI) has been issued to gather journal editors experiences with Issues related to retracting or correcting scientific papers. If you wish to contribute you can find more information here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-ES-14-005.html

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. March issue published

The March issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice can be read in full here: http://publicationethics.org/cope-newsletter/2014/mar/cope-digest-public...

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Wiley launch new ethics guidelines

Wiley has launched the second edition of its Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics: A Publisher’s Perspective. In the new edition, guidance has been added about whistle-blowers, animal research and clinical research, particularly around clinical trial registration.

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 4 March 2014 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Tuesday 4 March 2014, 3–5pm (GMT). The COPE Forum will be held virtually via webinar. Download the agenda and materials here (PDF, 695kb). The invitation to join the webinar is below. We can accommodate up to 100 attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion.

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COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice. February 2014 (Vol. 2, Issue 2)

The February issue of COPE Digest has been published on the COPE website. Read it here.

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COPE council members re-elected

COPE is very pleased to announce the re-election of two COPE council members following our recent elections: Behrooz Astaneh (http://publicationethics.org/about/council/behrooz-astaneh) and Geraldine Pearson (http://publicationethics.org/about/council/geraldine-pearson).

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Programme for COPE European Seminar 2014, Brussels, Belgium, 14 March 2014

in cooperation with the Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union
“EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLICATION ETHICS”

Venue: Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union, Rue Montoyer 21, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

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Election of COPE council members January 2014

Voting for the 2 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Friday 24 January 2014. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. Please note that there is only one vote per journal title, even for journals with multiple editors. The vote should be cast by the member editor, who is usually the editor-in-chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal. Editors of more than one journal will have a vote for each journal.

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 4 December 2013 meeting

Download the agenda and materials (PDF, 433kb) for the COPE Forum meeting 4 December 2013.

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for two new candidates.These are voluntary positions. Council is responsible for COPE’s policy and management. Council members are expected to attend four meetings a year (at least 2 of which are in London and 2 may be attended by phone or other media). There is also an annual 1 day strategy meeting which Council Members are expected to attend.

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Second issue of COPE Digest published

The second issue of COPE Digest: Publication Ethics in Practice has now been published. It can be read here: http://publicationethics.org/cope-newsletter

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COPE response to Science paper submission of fake paper, by Virginia Barbour, on behalf of COPE council

At COPE we have followed with intense interest the recent report in Science of a fake paper submitted to multiple journals, some of whom accepted it. There is no doubt that this "sting" raises a number of issues, that academic publishing and those who seek to improve it, need to tackle head on-though I'd argue they are not necessarily the ones that Science thinks are top priorities.

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COPE Indian Seminar at the Annual Conference of IAMJE

COPE will be running a seminar entitled “Publication ethics in India: Inspiring excellence” on 15 November 2013 at the Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Medical Journal Editors (IAMJE), 16–17 November 2013. There will also be a Workshop on Scientific Writing for Authors on 15–16 November 2013 and a Workshop for Peer Reviewers on 17 November 2013.  COPE Vice-Chair, Charlotte Haug, and COPE Alumnus, Trish Groves, will be leading the seminar. 

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 4 September 2013 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 4 September 2013 here (PDF, 172kb).

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COPE's eLearning course relaunched

COPE is delighted to announce the relaunch of the eLearning programme on the COPE website. COPE members can now access the programme directly on the COPE website http://publicationethics.org/resources/elearning once they have logged in.
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COPE advice to editors on geopolitical intrusions on editorial decisions

Editorial decisions should not be affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors. Decisions to edit and publish should not be determined by the policies of governments or other agencies outside of the journal itself, except where a decision might place the journal in violation of applicable law.

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EASE/ISMTE joint meeting

23-24 September 2013, Blankenberge, Belgium COPE will be holding an interactive workshop at the joint meeting of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) and the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE).

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PLOS ONE study on the rise in scientific retractions

Still on the subject of retractions, a recent study published in PLOS ONe by R. Grant Steen, Arturo Casadevall, and Ferric C. Fang asks why are the number of scientific retractions rising?   Is it because the number of flawed articles being published are increasing, or that they are being retracted more quickly?  Click here to read the article in full.

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Liz Wager discusses retractions in the BMJ

Liz Wager's recent blog in the BMJ discusss how tricky retractions can be, such as a recent one where the retraction was requested by the company who funded the study and whose employees carried out the research.  Although there were some errors in the study, the conclusions were valid.

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COPE Forum agenda and materials: 3 June 2013 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 3 June 2013 here (PDF 152kb).

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Ginny Barbour guest speaker for iThenticate webcast series

Ginny Barbour was recently one of two guest speakers for iThenticate's Plagiarism Webcast Series: 5 biggest challenges from the front lines of scholarly publishing,  You can listen to Ginny discussing the challenges facing scholarly publishing, or see the transcript, here.  

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Article on COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers published in ISMTE's newsletter, EON

Irene Hames discusses COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers in ISMTE's newsletter, EON.  You can read it here.  

(Thank you to ISMTE for making this freely available)

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New COPE council members

COPE is very pleased to announce the appointment of four new COPE council members, following our recent elections: Mohammad Abdollahi, Deborah Poff, Michael Wise and Adrian Ziderman. Mohammad Abdollahi is editor in chief of DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Mohammad is based in Tehran, Iran. Deborah Poff is editor in chief of the Journal of Academic Ethics. Deborah is based in Brandon, Canada.

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Presentations from COPE 2013 European Seminar now online

The presentations and posters from the 2013 COPE European seminar are now available online. The theme of the seminar was “Publication ethics from student to professional” and includes presentations from Professor Pieter Drenth, Professor Emeritus at VU University of Amsterdam; Dr Irene Hames, COPE council member and former managing editor of The Plant Journal; and Gill Rowell, Academic Advisor at Turnitin.

News

Presentations from COPE 2013 Asia-Pacific Seminar now online

The presentations, posters and meeting report from the 2013 COPE Asia-Pacific seminar are now available online.

News

COPE Forum agenda and materials: 12 March 2013 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 12 March 2013 here (PDF, 184kb).

Some guidelines on using the webinar system can be downloaded here (160 PDF, kb)

News

Election of COPE council members March 2013

Voting for the 4 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Monday 25 February 2013. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. The vote should be cast by the Member editor, who is usually the Editor-in-Chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal. See here for more details and to cast your vote.

News

COPE Discussion Document on responding to anonymous whistle blowers

COPE has received a number of requests from its members on how to respond to anonymous whistle blowers.  We have now developed our response in the format of a discussion document which can be seen here.

News

Videos from COPE North American Seminar now online

The videos of the presentations from the COPE North American seminar are now available on the website here.  They include presentations from Barbara Jasny, Deputy Editor of Science; Carol Anne Meyer from CrossRef; and Mark Seely, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Elsevier.  The topic is 'Correcting the literature'.

News

Election of COPE council members March 2013

Voting for the 4 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Monday 25 February 2013. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. The vote should be cast by the Member editor, who is usually the Editor-in-Chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal. See here for more details and to cast your vote.

News

Alltrials.net

Alltrials.net is a UK group behind a public campaign to call for all trials to be registered and all results reported. COPE has agreed to support this initiative with the following statement: "COPE supports the AllTrials initiative for all trials to be registered and all results reported.

News

COPE and ALPSP collaborate on new publication ethics course

ALPSP are hosting a new course, developed in collaboration with COPE, on 'Publication Ethics: Fraud and Misconduct'.  The course will be held on Monday, 4 March 2013, and will be led by ex-COPE Chair, Liz Wager, and Donna Neill, of John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.  Additionally, ALPSP are able to offer all COPE members its discounted ALPSP member rate for the course.

News

Upcoming CrossRef webinars

All of the webinars are free to attend and are also listed on the CrossRef webinar page.

Introduction to CrossMark Webinar

CrossMark is a new service from CrossRef, which will enable publishers to communicate changes and updates of their scholarly content on the web. Learn more about this new exciting initiative from CrossRef.

News

New book on competing interests published by the Esteve Foundation

The Esteve Foundation has recently published the latest volume of the Esteve Foundation Notebooks series titled “Competing interests in biomedical publications. Main guidelines and selected articles”, coordinated by Ana Marusic and Harvey Marcovitch.  COPE guidelines are referenced in the book.  The notebook is available through their website here

News

COPE grant on CrossCheck research update

The results of part of this research were presented at the CrossRef 2011 Annual Meeting, USA, 15 November 2011 (download the presentation, PDF 745kb). The purpose of this survey was to investigate journal editors’ use of CrossCheck to detect plagiarism, and their attitude to potential plagiarism once discovered.

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for three new candidates.

These are voluntary positions. Council is responsible for COPE’s policy and management. Council members are expected to attend four meetings a year (at least 2 of which are in London and 2 may be attended by phone or other media).

News

VIDEO: Charon Pierson discusses medical publication ethics with Turnitin

Charon Pierson, COPE council member and editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (JAANP), talks with Jason Chu from Turnitin about medical publication ethics and how editors and researchers can avoid plagiarism.

Watch Charon here (transcript available).

News

Ethical Editing – Winter 2012 issue

Download the Winter issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE.
This issue's theme is ''Making a commitment to ethical publication of research''.

This is the last edition of the Newsletter. Next year we will be exploring new ways of communicating with our members.

News

COPE Forum agenda and materials: 4 December 2012 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 4 December 2012 here (PDF, 161kb).

News

Presentations from COPE European Seminar now online

The video presentations (and slides) from the COPE European Seminar on 'Correcting the Literature' (16 March 2012) are now available online here.  The video presentations from the North American Seminar will be available shortly.  

News

Apply for a COPE Research Grant - deadline 1 December 2012

The closing date for applications for COPE's research grant is 1 December 2012.  Any COPE member can apply for a grant (up to £5000) for a research project into publication ethics. See here for more details and an application form.

News

CSE/COPE Joint Webinar on Authorship: recordings now online

The recordings and presentations from the Council of Science Editors/COPE Joint Webinar on Authorship held on October 22, 2012 are now available to download from the CSE website.

News

SpotOn London 2012: Q&A with Dr Ginny Barbour

Leading up to the session on academic misconduct and fraud at SpotOn London, on 11-12 November, COPE chair Ginny Barbour did a Q&A for Nature. See here:

News

1st COPE South American Seminar – Brazil, Monday 12 November 2012

"Correcting the literature"

Costão do Santinho Resort, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

COPE is pleased to announce its first seminar in South America, to be held on Monday, November 12 (8:30 am to 5 pm), in Brazil. The meeting will take place during the annual meeting of the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors (ABEC), at the Costão do Santinho Resort, Florianópolis, 300 miles south of São Paulo.

News

Ethical Editing – Autumn 2012 issue

Download the Autumn issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE. This issue's theme is ''Connections''. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE Forum agenda and materials: 11 September 2012 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Tuesday 11 September 2012, 3-5pm, in the Council Chamber, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH. All COPE members are welcome to attend, whether or not they are presenting a case. Download the agenda and materials here (PDF, 179kb).

News

NEJM one of 850 new members of COPE in 2012

The New England Journal of Medicine is one of 850 new journals who have joined COPE this year.  Other new members include Hindawi Publishing Corporation (Egypt and USA), Ubiquity Press (UK), Libertas Academia (New Zealand), ediPUCRS (Brazil), the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and the American Institute of Physics (USA). 

News

COPE Flowcharts now available in Persian

14 of the 17 COPE flowcharts are now available in Persian.  The remaining three (fabricated data in a submitted manuscript, fabricated data in a published manuscript, and how COPE deals with complaints againt member journals) will be available shortly.  The Persian flowcharts join the Italian, Spanish, French and Chinese versions already available.  Korean, Japanese, Turkish and Croatian will be coming soon.

News

Joint Statement of the II Brazilian Meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics (II BRISPE)

The final version of the Joint Statement on Research Integrity, has now been released by the II Brazilian Meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics (II BRISPE).   The statement has a number of recommendations for institutions to encourage them contribute to fostering research integrity initiatives in Brazil.

News

Nature Publishing Group wins libel case

Nature Publishing Group has won the libel case brought against them by Mohamed El Naschie, former editor of Chaos, Solitons and Fractals (CSF) regarding an article published in 2008: ‘Self-publishing editor set to retire’.  Read more on the judgement here.

 

 

News

3rd World Conference on Research Integrity

The 3rd World Conference on Research Integrity is due to take place in Montréal, Canada between 5 - 8 May 2013.  

The conference will focus international attention on research integrity, responsible conduct of research, and publication of research.  Attendees will have opportunities to learn the current state of worldwide progress on research integrity, discuss new challenges and emerging topics, and help shape national and international responses.

News

COPE North American Seminar and Forum 2012

COPE is pleased to announce its 4th North American Seminar and Forum. The COPE Forum will take place on the afternoon of 18 October (2–5 pm) followed by a whole day Seminar on 19 October.
The theme of this year’s Seminar is “Correcting the literature”. More details can be found here.

News

COPE Forum agenda and materials: 18 June 2012 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Monday 18 June 2012, 3-5pm, in the Council Chamber, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH. All COPE members are welcome to attend, whether or not they are presenting a case. Download the agenda and materials here (PDF, 180kb)

News

Ethical Editing – Summer 2012 issue

Download the Summer issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE. This issue's theme is '' Correcting the literature''.

We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE Research Grant - deadline 1 June 2012

The closing date for applications for COPE's research grant is 1 June 2012.  Any COPE member can apply for a grant (up to £5000) for a research project into publication ethics. See http://www.publicationethics.org/resources/research for more details and an application form.

News

COPE receives top award from Council of Science Editors

COPE has been awarded CSE's highest honour for its significant contribution to improving scientific communication by promoting high editorial standards.

News

Appointment of new COPE Ombudsman

COPE is very pleased to announce the appointment of the new COPE Ombudsman, Suzanne Morris. Suzanne Morris is the Postgraduate Coordinator at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Australia. Suzanne also holds the role of Research Integrity Officer at the University of Queensland.

News

Election of COPE council members May 2012

Voting for the 5 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Wednesday 23 May 2012. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. Please note: there is only one vote per journal title, even for  journals with multiple editors. The vote should be cast by the Member editor, who is usually the Editor-in-Chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal.

News

Revised and updated flowchart

How COPE manages complaints against member journals has been revised and updated and is now available via the website here.  Note: this revision has not yet been incorporated into the translated versions of the flowcharts.  These will be available shortly. 

News

Ethical Editing – Spring 2012 issue

Download the Spring issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE.
This issue's theme is ''15 Years of COPE!''. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for five new candidates.

News

New guidelines on cooperation between journals and institutions

After extensive consultation with institutions and editors around the world, COPE has issued guidelines about how universities and journals should cooperate on cases of suspected research misconduct. The new guidelines are available here and the press release announcing the guidelines is here.  

News

2nd Brazilian Meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics

The 2nd Brazilian Meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre between 28 May 2012 and 1 June 2012.  Click here for more information.  

News

COPE Forum agenda for 5 March 2012 meeting

The next COPE Forum meeting is being held on Monday 5 March 2012, 3-5pm, in the Council Chamber, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH. All COPE members are welcome to attend, whether or not they are presenting a case. Download the agenda and materials here  (PDF, 136kb).

News

Election of COPE Secretary

Voting for the post of COPE Secretary is now open and will remain open until Friday 2 March 2012. All full and associate members of COPE are entitled to vote. For more details and to vote, click here.

News

Joint COPE/BMJ consensus statement on research misconduct published

A joint COPE/BMJ consensus statement on research misconduct in the UK has been published both on the COPE and BMJ websites.  The consensus statement relates to the recent high-level meeting on research misconduct organised by COPE and the BMJ.  

News

COPE flowcharts now available in French

The full set of the COPE flowcharts are now available in French.  They can be downloaded from the website here.

News

Code of Conduct for Journal Editors now available in Chinese

The Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors has now been translated into Chinese.

In 2017 the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors was retired and replaced with the COPE Core practices.

 
News

Audio versions of December Forum cases now online

You can now listen to the cases presented at the December COPE Forums in audio. Listen to the full discussion and hear how the Forum members debated the issue and the conclusions they arrived at. The December cases start from Case Number 11-23 (Possible overlapping publications/data). See here

News

Reports of COPE/BMJ meeting on research misconduct

Initial reports of the meeting on research misconduct organized jointly by COPE and the BMJ have been published in the BMJ and also in Nature which has also published an editorial.  A full report of the meeting, including a consensus statement, will

News

BMJ / COPE meeting on research misconduct

 

COPE and the BMJ have organized a high-level meeting on research misconduct with speakers from several countries. The topic is also covered by an editorial in the BMJ. The editorial is available to BMJ subscribers here, and on the COPE website here.

News

North American seminar presentations now available online

The slides and audio of the three presentations at the recent North American seminar are now available for downloading here. Listen to Lisa Bero discuss ghost and guest authorship, Dave Kochalko talk about ORCID, and Robert Guralnik discuss authorship issues in mathematics.

News

Appointment of COPE Ombudsman

COPE is seeking applications for the position of COPE Ombudsman.
This is a voluntary position but COPE will cover travel expenses. The Ombudsman adjudicates:

News

COPE offers two scholarships to attend COPE's European seminar

COPE member editors from developing countries are invited to apply for one of two scholarships to attend COPE’s European seminar and annual general meeting, to be held in London on March 16th, 2012. 

News

Ethical Editing – Winter 2011 issue

Download the Winter issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE.
This issue's theme is ''Ethics around the globe''. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

Global standards for authors and editors tackle thorny issues such as research bias and misleading publicity

During the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010, COPE helped develop two position statements setting out international standards for responsible research publication for editors and authors. They have been published as part of the conference proceedings under a Creative Commons licence* (details of the proceedings are available from the publisher, here).

News

COPE Forum agenda for 6 December 2011 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 6 December 2011 here  (PDF, 167kb).

News

COPE's eLearning course now live

An eLearning course for editors, developed by COPE, is now live on the website.  Available to members only, the course aims to give editors a deeper understanding of publication ethics and provides practical guidance on how to detect, prevent and handle misconduct.  A press release with more information is available here.

News

Election of COPE council members Autumn 2011

Voting for the 2 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Friday 28 October 2011. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. Please note: there is only one vote per journal title, even for  journals with multiple editors. The vote should be cast by the Member editor, who isusually the Editor-in-Chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal.

News

iThenticate publish white paper on how globalization and technology are increasing misconduct in scholarly research

iThenticate have published a white paper titled: Pressure to Publish, How Globalization and Technology are increasing Misconduct in Scholarly Research, with contributions from the COPE Chair Liz Wager.  To read the paper see here.

News

Applicants now being sought for the COPE International Advisory Board

COPE is pleased to announce that applications are now being sought for the COPE international advisory board. This has been established to enable us to gain an understanding of the ethical issues and concerns facing individual countries and regions.  A local point of contact will be appointed to advise and assist COPE in its work to support editors and publishers of peer-reviewed journals in all aspects of publication ethics.

News

Chinese version of COPE flowcharts now available!

The COPE flowcharts are now available in Chinese on the website.  14 of the full set of 17 flowcharts have been translated, the remaining 3 will be available shortly.  The Chinese version joins Italian and Spanish on the website.  Following soon are: Croatian, Turkish, Korean, Farsi (Persian), Japanese, Brazilian Portugese and Arabic.  We are always looking for new translations.

News

Annual Scientific Congress of Iranian Society of Medical Editors in association with COPE

COPE is very pleased to announce that it will have its first international congress on publication ethics in Shiraz, Iran, 24–25 November 2011. The congress is in association with the Iranian Society of Medical Editors and is supported by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The meeting will be held in the five star Homa Hotel (http://www.homahotels.com/Summary.aspx).

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for two new candidates, as our constitution requires.

News

Ethical Editing – Autumn 2011 issue

Download the Autumn issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE.
This issue's theme is ''Evaluating current ethical practices''. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE Forum agenda for 6 September 2011 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 6 September 2011 here  (PDF, 179kb).

News

COPE is now on LinkedIn!

If you are a member of LinkedIn you can join the COPE group.  Click here to stay up to date with ethical issues.

News

Call for Cases for COPE Forum, 6 September

We are now accepting cases for the next COPE Forum, 3.00 - 5.00pm on Tuesday 6 September 2011.  The meeting will take place at The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH .  Cases can be submitted here.  Closing date for submissions is Tuesday 23 August.

News

eLearning course due to launch September 2011

The COPE eLearning course on publication ethics is due to  launch in September 2011.  The course consists of eleven modules in total, four of which will be released in September.  These are: An Introduction to Publication Ethics, Plagiarism, Fabrication and Falsification.  The remaining seven modules will be released subsequently.  For more information contact us here.

News

COPE North American Seminar and Forum 2011

COPE is pleased to announce its 3rd North American Seminar and Forum. The COPE Forum will take place on the afternoon of 31st October (2–5 pm) followed by a whole day Seminar on 1st November.
The theme of this year’s Seminar is Authorship. More details can be found here.

News

Election of COPE council members 2011

Voting for the 3 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Friday 8 July 2011. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. Please note: there is only one vote per journal title, even for  journals with multiple editors. The vote should be cast by the Member editor, who isusually the Editor-in-Chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal.

News

Submit your poster for the Asia Pacific Seminar

In a new venture for COPE, we welcome you to submit your publication ethics work for presentation as a poster at COPE’s first Asia-Pacific Seminar in Australia.  The topics considered will be publication ethics-oriented research or information about ethical policies, techniques, collaborations, and initiatives that COPE members and others attending the COPE seminar will be interested in learning about.

News

Final 3 flowcharts now available in Spanish

The final three flow charts have now been translated into Spanish and are available here.  

These are: Advice on how to spot authorship problems; Suspected guest, ghost or gift authorship; and What to do if you suspect a reviewer has appropriated an author’s idea or data.

News

Ethical Editing – Summer 2011 issue

Download the Summer issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE.
This issue's theme is 'Exploring the ethical landscape'. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE announces 1st Asia Pacific seminar and 3rd North American seminar

COPE has just posted details regarding its 1st Asia Pacific Seminar and Forum.  Taking place in Melbourne, Australia on 14 November 2011, the theme is PUBLICATION ETHICS AT THE FOUR POINTS OF THE JOURNAL EDITING COMPASS.  See here for more details.  Registration is now open.

News

COPE Forum agenda for 6 June 2011 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE Forum meeting 6 June 2011 here.  (PDF, 194kb).

News

Spanish version of flowcharts now available

14 out of the 17 COPE flowcharts are now available in Spanish and can be downloaded here.  We hope to have the full set available here shortly.  

News

COPE Research Grant - deadline looming

A reminder that the deadline for applications for the COPE research grant is 1 June 2011.  Any COPE member can apply for a grant (up to £5000) for a research project into publication ethics.

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to expansion of the size of COPE Council, we are seeking nominations for two new candidates.

News

COPE's first discussion document on plagiarism published

When aspects of publication ethics are particularly fast-moving or controversial COPE cannot always provide detailed guidance. Consequently, in a new venture for COPE, we are intending to publish a series of discussion documents with the aim to stimulate discussion rather than tell editors what to do. We hope that, by raising the issues, we can contribute to the debate within the academic publishing community and work towards agreement or definition of difficult problems.

News

The Royal Society seeks input into new study

The Royal Society is seeking input from academia, business, industry, Government, interest groups and members of the public for a new, major policy study on the use of scientific information as it affects scientists and society. It will ask how scientific information should be managed to support innovative and productive research that reflects public values. See http://bit.ly/k0vnv8 for more details.

News

Italian version of flowcharts now available

An Italian version of the COPE flowcharts are now available and can be downloaded here.   Coming soon: Farsi, Spanish, Korean, and others! More details can be seen here.

News

Chair of COPE gives evidence to parliamentary committee on peer review inquiry

You can  watch Liz Wager, COPE Chair, give evidence to the Science and Technology Committee on peer -review here.

News

COPE Research Grant - deadline is 1 June 2011

The closing date for applications for COPE's research grant is 1 June 2011.  Any COPE member can apply for a grant (up to £5000) for a research project into publication ethics. See http://www.publicationethics.org/resources/research for more details and an application form.

News

Report from I BRISPE now published

The report from I BRISPE (the 1st Brazilian meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics) has now been published.  The meeting took place in December 2010, and was attended by the COPE Chair, Liz Wager, who also presented at the 5 day meeting.  

News

A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors 2011

The short guide to ethical editing was updated in 2019. COPE Council member, Margaret Rees, has written a guide to ethical editing for new editors.  Becoming an editor of a journal is an exciting but daunting task especially if you are working alone without day to day contact with editorial colleagues.

News

New Website goes live!

The redesigned COPE website has now been launched. 

The site has been designed to make it easier for users to navigate around the site and access the resources quickly and easily.

Highlights of the new website include improved navigation and a more intuitive and accurate search facility. 

News

Attention COPE members! Changes to the website

The COPE website is undergoing a redesign which involves moving the members database. While this is ongoing, members will not be able to change their details on the website. Members will be able to continue using the website, browsing all the content. Members will also be able to login and submit cases, but will not be able to change their personal details or the details of the

News

COPE UK Seminar 2011

The COPE UK Seminar 2011 will be held in London on Friday 18 March 2011.
The theme of this year’s seminar is authorship and falsification/fabrication of data. Editors, authors and all those interested in improving the standard of publication ethics are welcome to attend. To register, please complete the registration form here.

News

Registry for systematic reviews created

A registry for the protocols of systematic reviews has been created. The aim of encouraging registration of systematic reviews (as for clinical trials) is to ensure the results are reported responsibly and according to the original design, and also to reduce non-publication of negative findings.

News

Ethical Editing – Winter 2010 issue

Download the Winter issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE (http://publicationethics.org/newsletters).
This issue's theme is ‘misconduct’. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE Forum agenda for 7 December 2010 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the 7 December 2010 Forum (Download PDF, 139kb).

News

First Brazilian Meeting on Research Integrity, Science and Publication Ethics (I BRISPE), December 2010

I BRISPE joins together the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the Brazilian Center for Physics Research (CBPF), the Institute for Information in Science and Technology (IBICT), the University of São Paulo (USP) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), in association with the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI).
The I BRISPE will involve 4 full-day round tables and 3 workshops (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), which will be held on December 10, 13, 14, 15 and 16, 2010.

News

4th International Conference on Information Law and Ethics, May 2011

4th International Conference on Information Law and Ethics 2011, Thessaloniki, Greece, May 20-21, 2011
Organized by: INSEIT/Ionian University/Macedonian University/Thessaloniki Law School
ICIL 2011 is sponsored by the International Society for Ethics and Technology (US), the Institute for Legal Informatics (Germany), the International Center for Information Ethics (Germany) and NEXA Center for Internet and Society (Italy)
For more details and information on call for papers please see the website: http://conferences.ionio.gr/icil2011

News

Announcement of COPE Council elections

Due to vacancies on Council, we are seeking nominations for three new candidates, as our constitution requires.

News

European Association of Science Editors - Short Course February 2011 - How to be a successful journal editor

EASE (European Association of Science Editors) is hosting Pippa Smart's How To Be A Successful Journal Editor course on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 February 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. Pippa Smart will run her very popular course at the National Cancer Centre in Warsaw, kindly hosted by Edward Towpik. More information about course content can be found here: http://www.pspconsulting.org/journals.shtml

News

Applications for COPE's Grant Scheme now open!

Have a research project on publication ethics but don't have the funding? Twice a year, COPE offers up to £5000 to any member of COPE for a defined research project that is in the broad area of the organisation's interests.

News

Forum agenda for 6 September 2010 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the 6 September 2010 Forum (Download PDF, 168kb).

News

Ethical editing – Autumn 2010 issue

Download the Autumn issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE (http://publicationethics.org/newsletters).
This issue's theme is ‘Correcting editorial inequalities’. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have. Please contact us via the website.

News

COPE Competition!

Can you sum up COPE in a single phrase? We're looking for a new slogan for our homepage. Can you suggest something better than 'Helping journals to get their houses in order'? If we get lots of good suggestions we may ask members to vote on them. There's no prize except the chance to know your creative talents have contributed to our website! Click on the link below to submit your suggestion.

News

Dates of future COPE meetings

2011

Monday 7 March 2011 (deadline for cases 21 February)

Monday 6 June 2011 (deadline for cases 23 May)

Tuesday 6 September 2011 (deadline for cases 23 August)

Tuesday 6 December 2011 (deadline for cases 22 November)

News

Building an international register of ongoing systematic reviews: have your say

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.

News

COPE awards research grant to the EQUATOR group

The research project, entitled ‘What instructions and guidance do journals provide to their reviewers to assess submitted manuscripts?

News

Follow COPE on Facebook and Twitter

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

News

Ethical editing - Summer 2010 issue

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.

News

Forum agenda for 8 June 2010 meeting

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

News

Editing Medical Journals: Short Course

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

News

Forum agenda for 1 March 2010 meeting

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

News

COPE survey

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).

News

COPE’s retraction guidelines

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

News

Forum agenda for 2 December 2009 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the 2 December 2009 COPE Forum (Download PDF, 144kb).

News

Forum agenda for 2 September 2009 meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the 2 September 2009 COPE Forum (Download PDF, 95kb).

News

UKRIO's new Code of Practice for Research

The UK Research Integrity Office has just finalised its Code of Practice for Research, revised following the public consultation on a draft version earlier this year. COPE also commented on the draft version. This final version of the Code is being circulated to the research community. A copy  of the Code can be found on their website.

News

COPE officers change

Jeremy Theobald has stepped down as COPE Treasurer. We thank Jeremy for all his contributions to COPE over several years - in particular in developing this website as well as his work as Treasurer and in developing COPE's membership and financial stability. Until formal elections can be held (at the next AGM in March 2010), Richard O'Hagan has agreed to take over Jeremy's role and will be Acting Treasurer and Ginny Barbour will take over from Richard as Acting Secretary.

News

Forum Agenda for 2 June 2009 Meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the 2 June 2009 COPE Forum (Download PDF, 144kb).

News

COPE Annual General Meeting

Download the agenda and materials for the COPE AGM held on 27 March 2009 (Download PDF, 21kb).

The minutes of the AGM are available to download here (Download PDF, 76kb).

News

All Elsevier journals become COPE members

Editors will benefit from new partnership

13 February 2008
London, UK.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is pleased to announce its partnership with Elsevier, publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. More than 2000 journals, the full collection of Health, Sciences and Science & Technology journals published by Elsevier, have been added to the list of COPE members.