- Event
6th World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI), Hong Kong, 2019
COPE will have a prominent role in four symposia and plenary sessions at the WCRI in Hong Kong, China, 2-5 June 2019. The theme of the conference is "New challenges in research integrity", advancing discussion on key issues such as open data, open access and other moves towards… - Discussion documents
How should editors respond to plagiarism? April 2011
…Contents Aims and scope Background Introduction Types of plagiarism 2.1 Extent 2.2 Originality of copied material 2.3 Position / context 2.4 Referencing / attribution 2.5 Intention 2.6 Author seniority 2.7 Language Detecting and responding to plagiarism Screening for plagiarism Defining… - Event
15th EASE General Assembly and Conference
The next EASE Conference will be the 15th EASE General Assembly and Conference to be held online from Wednesday to Friday, 23-25 June 2021 on the theme: Promoting sustainability in scholarly publishing: the role of editors The - Case
A paper which discloses confidential material
In March 2000 author A submitted a research letter to journal X, on behalf of a national screening programme. He also submitted a commissioned editorial to journal Y, relating to the same subject. At the same time, author A sent copies of both articles to B, a recognised authority on the subject. He made it clear that they were confidential and in press and asked for some information on a test… - Case
Ethics committee waives consent for case report, editor disagrees
The authors wish to publish a case report that aims to characterise complex chromosomal abnormalities in a rare congenital syndrome. It describes, in detail, the clinical features of two newborn infants. When asked about consent to publish, the authors said they did not obtain it because the data were reported from existing clinical diagnostic test results and therefore did not constitute a sys… - Case
Editor adding reference to an author's work
Several years ago Author A was asked by Editor B to contribute an essay to a publication. The book took a long time to complete and underwent many modifications. When the book was published Author A noticed that several edits had been made to the text without Author A being informed and which Author A did not approve. The most notable edit is an added reference to a piece of text. The added ref… Sample Letters
…href="/files/u2/Reviewer.doc"> Download .doc (24 kb) Second letter If the first letter has not led to resolution Download .doc (25 kb) Third letters If the journal can make a decision about whether misconduct has occured (e.g. on overlap with another paper), and you are not satisfied with the authors’ explanation…Expenses policy
…- reasonable costs for meals and refreshments will be reimbursed. A reasonable level is classed as no more than £15 for lunch and £30 for dinner. When using a private car the allowable rates per mile are: 45p per mile up to 150 miles in one trip; 25p per mile over 150 miles in one trip. Parking fees and tolls are reimbursed where applicable. Fines incurred as a result of driving or parking…- Case
An accusation of racism
…and that all the participants were from the traditional ethnic community. “The outright rejection of the article only shows that though the [publishing group] claims to be international in its outlook, it is not interested in studies from diverse cultures and societies.” S/he claimed that their study would have been given a better chance if it had been about a white community. About 25% of the… - Case
Plagiarism of published paper
…a second email on 29 July. The Dean finally acknowledged receipt of our letter on 1 August saying he will investigate the case. The editor sent a follow-up email on 25 August and the Dean immediately replied that the case is now under investigation.… - Case
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
What should a journal do if an old (more than 15 years old) published paper is flagged on PubPeer for image concerns, but the case cannot be resolved due to the time lapsed? For example, if only low quality images are available online that cannot be analysed conclusively; some of the key authors may no longer be contactable; the raw data is no longer available; an institutional investigation is… - News
COPE in 2023
…A time to review and look forward In 2022, COPE celebrated its 25th year. While we celebrated this anniversary with pride in all that we have achieved over the past 25 years, we also took the opportunity to reflect on COPE’s role and purpose in a rapidly evolving research and publication landscape.… - News
In the news: April 2020
…preprints relevant to life and biomedical sciences and that were active online and accepting submissions on 25 June 2019. Data are separated into five main tables of information and a list of preprint platform websites for reference: Scope and ownership of each server Content-specific characteristics and information relating to submission, journal transfer options, and external… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…opinions in its peer review process. However, only 25% were aware of a diversity policy for recruiting members of their peer reviewer pool, and only 13% said there is in-house training to promote diversity and inclusion in peer review [3]. COPE is keen to promote diversity and inclusion in not only peer review but also scholarly publishing in general, by facilitating dialogue and developing…- Case
Availability of reagents
One of our journals has published several articles describing use of a particular cell line X, which belongs to company Y. The authors included employees of company Y. A reader at a university, Dr Z, wished to gain access to cell line X, and requested it from company Y. He was informed by the director of science of company Y that ‘...it is Y’s intention to keep control of the integrity of the X… - Case
Unauthorised use of data
A multicentre study conducted with a working group involving 38 centres was published in our journal. Author A was a member of one of the centres and was listed as the 13th author in the article. Another colleague (author B) who is not a coauthor and who works in the same department as author A, contacted our journal and claimed that the data from the centre used by author A in the study were u… - Research
Editing of reviewer comments: a COPE survey 2020
…acceptable for an editor to edit a peer reviewer’s comments and about 25% said they believed it is never acceptable to suppress a complete review. The most common reasons cited for editing reviews were related to unacceptable reviewer comments because they were inflammatory, hostile, or otherwise offensive, or factually incorrect. Other important reasons why editors said they edited reviews were because… - Case
Request for addition of new authors
A journal received an article submission from two authors. The paper went through several revisions over the course of a year, and was eventually accepted for publication. The authors were informed about acceptance and the paper was sent for copyediting. The editorial office subsequently sent the final version of the paper to the authors for proofreading. On the same day, a request was… - Seminars and webinars
Good Publication Practice 2022
… From ‘Publish or Perish’ to ‘Publish and Nourish’ The COPE presentation was titled “Creating a culture of publication integrity together”, which is COPE’s new motto this year to mark its 25th anniversary and the opening of COPE membership to universities and research institutes. The talk concentrated on the joint role that multiple stakeholders, including peer-reviewed journals and… - Case
Dealing with cases with culturally offensive content
…‘Advice to the NEJM on dealing with old influential articles with undisclosed COIs’, BMJ blog,