- Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 12 February 2016: Data sharing
…that those whose data are reused get adequate credit—something that is not routinely done, but which groups such as Force 11 and others are working towards. Most recently, questions about the legitimate requests for and re-use of data have been explored systematically and thoughtfully by Lewandowsky &… - Case
Correcting the affiliation of an author after publication
Following the advice from the Forum, the journal complied with the author’s request. The journal changed the affiliation in the online version and re-uploaded the article on the journal’s website.… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: February 2019
…href="https://publicationethics.org/cope-north-american-seminar-2019">register and make sure you’re with us there. And hello to COPE’s research with the publisher Routledge and the agency Shift Learning. We’re surveying arts, humanities and social sciences journal editors about their experiences of publishing ethics issues in their subject areas. We’ll share results for the first time at our seminar in Philadelphia, and use what we learn to shape COPE’s approach to… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…/group/joint-declaration-data-citation-principles-final">https://www.force11.org/group/joint-declaration-data-citation-principles-final) are working towards. Most recently, questions about the legitimate requests for and re-use of data have been explored systematically and thoughtfully by Lewandowsky & Bishop (2016). In light of the above concerns about implementing a data sharing policy, COPE invites discussion on this topic, specifically relating to the…- Case
Duplicate publication
…a prestigious journal in the United States sent an e-mail to the current editor in this country stating that he had been in receipt of a manuscript, submitted electronically, which appeared to be an attempt at duplicate publication. He requested that a pdf file of the original article was sent to him and, in due course, confirmed that the new manuscript that he had received was a re-write of the already… - Case
Potential fabrication of data in primary studies included in a meta-analysis accepted for publication
…reviewers and ask their opinions and also ask their advice on the response from the key expert. The Forum cautioned against the practice of blindly re-analysing data for inclusion in a meta-analysis, without obtaining the original data, so the authors of the meta-analysis need to take some responsibility here. Unfortunately for the authors, their paper is in limbo while there are questions… - Case
Developing novel approaches to improve the assessment of absolute risk among patients with cardiovascular disease
…was a member of the awards short-listing panel. Subsequent discussion and exchange of the manuscripts between both journals revealed that the research group in question had submitted a full paper in mid-1999 to Journal B, which had requested a re-submission as a short report. The group then clearly sent the same full paper, accompanied by an identical covering letter, to Journal A, without any… - Case
Plagiarism in a systematic review
…re-written, the editors would not be interested in sending this paper out for peer review as there would not be enough new material to represent a sufficient advance beyond the previously published review. However, the editors wanted to ensure that the authors are aware of the seriousness of plagiarism and that the paper is not published in its current form in another journal. - Case
Plagiarized figure
…wish to educate, rather than punish, the author. The editor should emphasize to the author that having permission to use the figure is not the same as having permission to publish it. It is acceptable to re-use a figure if the author has permission and if the original figure is cited. But the potential copyright issue may be more serious than the plagiarism issue. This can sometimes depend on the… - News
Guest article: Self-plagiarism in philosophy
…a contested one, but it generally refers to cases where an author publishes an article a second time without disclosing the first (redundant or duplicate publication) or to cases where there is an excessive undisclosed re-use of some portion of one’s previously-published work (text recycling). Despite - Case
The overlapping papers with conflicting data
The matter was investigated by the chief executive, who agreed that the overlap was evident on re-review. But he believed there was no deliberate intention to deceive.… - Case
Authorship dispute
As a result of the COPE discussions the editors reversed their decision. Manuscripts will be accepted for evaluation from either author. The journal is also re-evaluating its policy guidelines. The editors decided that in this particular instance it would be inappropriate to contact the host institution.… - Case
Competing interest issue
The committee thought that this might simply be an error. In the first instance, the advice from committee was to contact PubMed and the journal in question, to see if an error has been made, as the paper and commentary, although linked, should be two distinct entities. Further advice was to re-check the contributorship statements from the evaluator.… - Case
Accusation of non-attribution of authorship
…complainant made contact again saying that he still wanted to be an author so that he could use the reference in his CV. The editor responded sympathetically but concluded that "we published it in good faith on the reasonable assumption that the authorship was agreed. It really isn't appropriate to ask us to re-attribute authorship in this way". We told him that we had now decided to refer the case… - Seminars and webinars
Webinar 2019: Allegations of misconduct
…Allegations of Misconduct and the role of editors, journals and publishers. Tara introduced COPE's Core Practice Allegations of Misconduct and the responsibility to ensure that you have taken adequate steps before making a decision to ensure it is reasonable and to reduce the possibility that the decision is biased, arbitrary or fundamentally unfair. If you're looking at your processes it would be useful to… - News
In the news: April 2018 Digest
…detection of figure element re-use Three researchers have developed a scalable automatic system to detect image manipulation. By testing in over 2 million figures from online biomedical journals, they then had a 3 person panel review the findings identified as re-use. The study concluded that in this data set, about 0.6% of articles would be considered fraudulent. The authors warn, however, that… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: November 2018
…China. Adrian Ziderman has been re-elected for a second term to COPE Council. We welcome them all as we move into the next year. Read November Digest: Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections COPE co-Chair - News
COPE Officers 2019-2021
…years and we're pleased they will be with us for another year. Charon Pierson has come to the end of her time with COPE, having joined COPE Council in 2012 followed by two terms as COPE Secretary. We owe a huge thanks to Charon for her contribution to COPE, in developing guidance and writing commentary for Digest newsletter, presenting at seminars and workshops as well as regularly chairing the… - Case
Potential figure manipulation with corresponding author uncontactable
…at a later date, and then any further action, if necessary, may be taken. A different view expressed was to remove the figure and publish a correction—if other researchers have re-done the work on the subject it may be possible to replace the figure with a citation.… - Case
Withdrawal of paper at proof stage
…The Forum recommended that journal processes should be in place to preclude these situations. The editor should re-evaluate the journal’s internal editorial processes. Is there a possibility that the authors discovered a critical error and decided they could not publish the paper? The editor could consider communicating with the authors to determine if something in their process caused them to…