- News
In the news: October 2020
…existing EU rules for drug trials, US legislation, and WHO best practices. In addition, the HRA will require submission of ‘lay summaries’ (ie, summaries of trial results that non-experts can understand).” Challenges and support in the publishing industry The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) convened a a virtual seminar on "New Directions" to explore 2020's - Case
Possible self-plagiarism and/or prior publication
…manuscript, also pointing out that we are aware of the existence of the article on the author’s website. Question(s) for the COPE ForumWe would be grateful for the Forum’s advice on: Whether to pursue this as we would a case of self-plagiarism of a previously published journal article (ie, reject the paper) or whether it would suggest an alternative course of… - Case
Dispute over submitted comment and the right to be forgotten
…/> If the editor decides to retract the paper, there seems little reason to publish a 13-page comment. A one-line explanation for the retraction should suffice. If the editor does not wish to retract the article (ie, if they are convinced there is no issue of defamation, and there is simply a difference of opinion between the original authors who think their methods were sound, and… - Case
Permission to publish a case report
…COPE does not recommend sanctions against authors (ie, journals banning authors from submitting future manuscripts). This has legal implications and is especially complicated in the case of multiple authors. Regarding the correction, even if the article is removed from the online repository it is still considered published and so retains its meta data and DOI. Hence a correction to… - News
In the news: December Digest
…10, and then posed the question - in this case "Does reading in a book in bed help one sleep? ". Participants are randomised, the study will be run, and results posted. https://thepeoplestrial.ie/phase-three/ The University of Glasgow encourages the use of CRediT taxonomy to describe the contributions of authors and… Code of conduct for COPE meetings and events
…respect for others, critiquing ideas rather than individuals. Participants should avoid personal attacks directed towards other attendees and/or participants. Participants should respect the confidentiality of all participants by not sharing personal details in accordance with data protection and privacy laws (ie. GDPR). See- Case
Falsification of certificates of deposit of new bacterial species in culture collections
…import/export regulations, etc. The priority of names is determined by the date of publication; in our journal, which is the journal of record for the description of novel species of prokaryotes, the date of publication reflects the date of acceptance (ie, papers are published in the strict order that they are accepted). Papers are not accepted for publication before suitable certificates have been provided… Membership application FAQ
…paid members of staff (ie, run on totally voluntary efforts) and with zero income/ funding from any source (including from a publisher). COPE will also consider requests for reduced membership subscription fees. Journals that qualify for reduced membership fees will be asked to pay 50% of the normal membership fee.…- News
Case discussion: Authors’ contributions and involvement by medical communications company
…Contributors who do not qualify for authorship should be named in the Acknowledgements, with their written permission. In this case, a third party was not properly acknowledged for the nature and extent of assistance provided (far beyond the language editing declared), leading the COPE Forum to conclude that ghost writing had occurred (ie, undeclared writing help). The journal’s inspection of author files… - News
Case discussion: Editor manipulation of impact factor
…href="https://publicationethics.org/news/citations-link-locate-discover-connect" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Citations: Link, Locate, Discover, Connect), “Review of the purpose or academic value of citations within an article is the work of reviewers and editors to ensure the integrity of the scholarly content they publish.” Unfortunately, citation manipulation has become a pervasive problem because a citation (ie, reference) count has become… Equal Opportunities Policy
…termination of employment. Forms of discrimination COPE aims to provide equality and fairness for all staff and not to discriminate because of so-called ‘protected characteristics’ (ie, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sex and sexual orientation). We oppose all forms of…- Forum discussion topics
Systematic manipulation of the publishing process via “paper mills”
…helped us considerably and the editor in chief is not overwhelmed by the situation. How can comparisons be done systematically across different articles in different journals? How does it differ from authorship by medical communication company (ie, ghost authorship)? If a submission looks suspicious, it may be worth looking into the metadata. Larger journals might notice 10… - Forum discussion topics
Best practices for guest edited collections
…consider it a good solution not publishing the 2nd proceeding but provide just the metadata and a link to the first proceeding, I.e, the one already published? A: Different journals and disciplines have their own conventions on this question and we recommend that journals produce clear guidance on how they will handle conference proceedings that have been published elsewhere. In… - Seminars and webinars
Webinar 2022: Managing paper mills
…collaboration, the principal investigator would be aware of — and approve — the collaboration. What resources are there for multicultural researchers (i.e. help with writing) that would avoid paper mills? Some publishers offer language editing services, and others may recommend copyediting or language editing service providers upon request. When seeking a company to help with language…