- Case
Ethical considerations in publishing conference papers
Journal X has recently received two manuscripts, which were previously published at a conference, with DOIs and publisher information. They contacted the authors with our concerns. Author A's manuscript was taken verbatim from their conference paper, yet they insisted that they own the copyright of the conference paper. They claim that they are free to re-submit the paper to Journal X,… - Case
Reviewer's identity revealed
…user1 or some other nickname. However, sometimes a reviewer will comment using their real name. Typically, the editor must edit each comment and re-do these to remove the reviewer´s name and avoid revealing their identity. However, is the reviewer implicitly deciding to reveal their identity using their real name when commenting? It takes a long time to mask the identity of the reviewer, as… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Issues related to papers submitted to “discussion” journals
…XXX.• OPTION BSubmission of rewritten manuscript for review, discussion, and publication in XXXD and XXX. If the editor and/or authors of a manuscript published and discussed in XXXD conclude that the manuscript can and should be re-written in a way which goes beyond regular revisions (e.g. addition of substantial new results, etc.), a rewritten manuscript can at any time be…- News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: May 2018
…href="https://publicationethics.org/news/data-and-reproducibility-focus-cope-education-subcommittee" target="_blank">data and reproducibility and authorship and contributorship. And all of these documents are available for everyone, whether you’re a COPE member or not, whether you work in a research institution or university, or… - Case
Author dispute over internal report
…to their company, they were entitled to re-use the content without permission. They proposed a resolution whereby author A was included as an author of the journal article via an erratum. This erratum was published, but author A remains discontent and has made it clear that he would like the journal article to be retracted. Authors B, C and D have yet to be consulted on retraction, although… - Case
Supervisor publishes PhD students work
The Forum emphasised the fact that if something is published online (especially it it has a DOI number), then it should be considered published. Hence, an editor cannot simply remove a paper from their website. A paper should only be removed from on online site if it has been formally retracted. In this case, the paper should be re-instated on the website, with an expression of concern. The… - Case
Enquiry regarding copyright/retractions
A journal received a paper that had previously been retracted from another publisher’s journal as a result of malpractice in the peer review process (a result of reviewer/editor misconduct rather than actions on the part of the authors). Having reviewed various sources of guidance, it would appear that there is some precedent for re-publication of retracted papers (suitably corrected… - News
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. - Case
Compromised peer review (unpublished)
A manuscript was flagged to editor X as having received reviewers’ reports indicating very high interest. At that point the manuscript had been through one round of review, revision and re-review, and all three reviewers were advising that the manuscript be accepted without further revision. On checking the credentials of the three reviewers, editor X was unable to find the publication… - Case
Reviewer requests to be added as an author after publication
…we publish the original corrigendum. The journal editors have discussed this and have come to the conclusion that although there is nothing scientifically wrong with the paper, it will need to be retracted as the peer review process for this paper has been compromised. They are willing to give the authors the chance to resubmit the paper with the full author list and have it re-reviewed (new… - Case
Authorship issue related to misleading action of one author
…version that was reported in the manuscript. When the manuscript was revised, the first author decided to include screenshots from the national agency which described the CDS even though it was no longer available online. The revised manuscript was submitted, re-reviewed, and after a few small changes, accepted for publication. Shortly thereafter, the editorial associate for the journal… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
…findings could be misleading in a damaging manner, and that the case reports in particular lacked scientific rigour. This advisor stated their opinion that most of the published articles should be re-reviewed post-publication or retracted. We have subsequently contacted the leading guest editor for clarification over some of the chief concerns about the protocol, and have received an extensive response,… Job vacancy: COPE content writer
…Freelance content writer COPE is looking for a talented freelance Content Writer to create compelling editorials, social media content and web copy. We’re looking for someone who will help us synthesise our content, expand our digital footprint and drive more members to our online content. The ideal candidate should have a proven track record of producing pieces that increase…- Case
Authorship dispute
…filed a patent application for the technique described in the manuscript. The paper was subsequently re-reviewed internally and externally and a further revision of the manuscript was invited and submitted accordingly. The final version of the paper was accepted for publication. At proof stage, the senior author from the second research institution contacted the journal to enquire about the progress… - Case
Salami publication
…Journal A considered the appeal but did not feel able to recommend or reject the paper because they did not have the depth of knowledge about the dataset that the reviewer did. There were also discrepancies between the author’s rebuttal and the paper itself. The rebuttal was therefore sent to the original referee who re-analysed the data and concluded that the overlap between the current and previous… - Case
Institutionalised policy of gift authorship?
When the paper was re-submitted excluding the names of two authors, the journal should have sought agreement from these two before publication. Although not done in this case, the editor said that he would seek written consent from excluded authors in the future. Also, the excluded authors should have been acknowledged on the paper. The discussion that followed centred on the issue of gift… - Case
Duplicate submission
…B offered to publish the article if the author would cut it from full-length to short communication format. The author withdrew his paper formally from journal B and submitted it to journal A, where review took 3 weeks. During this 3 week period, the author’s anxiety about the competing paper increased and, fearing that journal A might not move fast enough on his paper, he re… - Case
Suspicion of breach of proper peer reviewer behaviour
An author submitted a paper for peer review with journal X on a topic that refers to a very recently published paper (ie, highly timely). The peer review was rather protracted because of long response times, reviewer substitution and the need to re-review the manuscript after a major revision. Just before the second decision was rendered, the author contacted the editor-in-chief with… - Case
Confidentiality breach by an associate editor
…The Forum advised that it is up to the editor to make the decision, and that he needs to consider how valuable he believes the associate editor is, and how likely they are to repeat this behaviour? Can the editor trust the associate editor now? The Forum suggested that the editor might re-emphasise the journal’s policy on conflicts of interest to the other associate editors.… - Case
Alleged unauthorized use of data and possible dual publication
…by the senior author’s main group, but that none of the other reviewers have criticised the method). The senior author further points out that this method is not the only one used in the database. (2) re the inappropriate use of data from country 1, the senior author assures the journal that the referee had been asked and had given permission (an email was attached), but that if the referee…