Member Insight
…="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/systematic-manipulation-publication-process">Systematic manipulation of the publication process launched in January 2022 to help journals and publishers identify suspicious patterns, investigate potential manipulation, and to prevent fraudulent activity. A recording of our 2021 Seminar session on How do we deal with the growing number of paper mills? is now available for…Code of conduct for COPE meetings and events
…meeting link for web-based events or unauthorized copying, distribution, or alteration of COPE's proprietary content, or other misuse of COPE member resources. Sharing of third party content, e.g. presentations by non-COPE members, material that we have used (with permission) but do not have permission to share with third parties, etc. Retaliation against anyone reporting prohibited…- News
In the news: September 2021
…value of research it is critical to understand the contexts in which the knowledge is needed, produced and used. The need to publish in "top journals" to achieve academic success undermines the need to do research that benefits the local community if it is unlikely to be published in a high impact journal. Efforts to judge research based on scientific rigor and relevance to local knowledge needs have… - Case
Confidentiality and consent in case reports
…expert that we might interpret the GMC guidance and the NHS Code of Practice on Confidentiality to mean that consent is not needed where the doctor is satisfied that he or she can anonymise the data to be used (bearing in mind that the symptoms might be an identifier). 3) If you feel that we do need to change our practice and require authors to obtain consent from patients whose case histories… - Case
Falsification of certificates of deposit of new bacterial species in culture collections
…publication, and thereby secure priority for the names, without the knowledge of the corresponding author or his other co-authors. Again he was extremely apologetic and assured the editor-in-chief that this would not happen again. Because bona fide evidence has therefore not been provided that these type strains have been deposited in two culture collections in different countries, the descriptions do… - Case
Inappropriate authorship on students paper
…students who have done all of the work are the sufferers. They cannot raise any objections against the supervisor for fear of an impact on their career. Can COPE suggest what I should do now?… - Case
Meta-analysis: submission of unreliable findings
The Forum agreed there were grounds for retraction of the paper. Clinical decisions are often based on meta-analyses and the editor cannot rely on all readers being aware of the newly published meta-analysis in the other journal. However, the ideal situation would be for the author to correct the published paper. Although the author has refused to do this, the Forum suggested that the editor… - Case
Misattributed authorship and unauthorized use of data
…(institution 1) be notified of his scientific misconduct. Additionally, he claimed that author B performed the majority of the research presented in the article as author A had insufficient experience in the field. Author A was asked to comment on that claim, but he maintained that he wrote the article and did not use data collected in the director's research laboratory. We do not have the… - Case
Suspected image manipulation involving four journals
…issue. The Forum were in agreement that the matter should be reported to the institution. The institution is the only body with access to the data and it is up to them to investigate. The journal is not in a position to do this. The editor should inform them of the analysis, but not the results. It would send a stronger message if the editors of the other journals were also to contact the… - Case
Scientific misconduct claim from a whistleblower where the institution will not investigate
…institutions take punitive action without investigation of the whistleblower’s intent, careers could be heavily impacted. • If the institutions, when informed, decide to take no action, do the editors have a responsibility to investigate to get a better sense of whether they should further push the institution given the authors can simply submit a paper elsewhere where those editors will not know about… - Case
Possible authorship conflict over an article published ahead of print
…the summaries of the journal in its current form and content, unless they sent in within 48 hours a duly justified and documented request not to publish it Questions for COPE Council Is there anything else the journal should do? As Author 1 and Author 2 belong to two different institutions, it will not be easy to go to the institution to resolve the conflict.… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Introduction to publication ethics
…article in another journal. The case is further complicated by some of the co-authors being editorial board members on the new journal. Back to top Case 3: peer review 'ring' Ana presents the third case of a ‘peer review ring’ where author-suggested reviewers seem highly suspicious, do not have institutional email addresses, and cannot be found online. The… - News
Case discussion: Consequence for dual submission
…is that of “Intellectual Property”, which includes the advice “Policies should be clear on what counts as prepublication that will preclude consideration. What constitutes plagiarism and redundant/overlapping publication should be specified.” Journals should explicitly state that they do not allow simultaneous submission of the same… - News
Post-publication conflicts of interest
…author may have declared the absence of potential conflicts of interest or may have disclosed only a partial or inaccurate list. The previous flowchart, similar to the flowchart What to do if a reviewer suspects undisclosed conflict of interest (Col) in a submitted manuscript, recommended that editors collect any… Terms and conditions
…fulfils its responsibilities under GDPR, please read the COPE Privacy Policy; it explains the lawful basis for processing your information (primarily legitimate interest), your rights, and what to do if you have any questions or concerns about your data or that of your relevant colleagues Member…- Case
Authorship issue
…ascertained that the database did indeed belong to the institute. Dr D was asked, as research director, whether he would be prepared to adjudicate on the issue if necessary and he agreed in principle to do so. (c) The editors then wrote to Drs A, B and C explaining the dispute as they saw it. They stated that they understood that Drs A, B and C believe that they should have been included as… - Case
Professional misconduct of one author
…still need to be included. The same applies if the author says they do not approve of the ‘final’ version (if the paper is still being reviewed). If the alleged misconduct affects the academic content of the paper or some aspect of the research process (for example, if knowledge of the other's misconduct has led the author to question the legitimacy of work performed on this paper), the… - Case
Request for a retraction from a pharmaceutical company
…the seriousness and the impact of the errors raised, and the ethical implications involved. Considering the objections along with the author’s rebuttal and the reviewer’s comments, the Journal decided that the errors in the paper do not rise to a level that necessitated retraction. The Journal decided that the best course of action is to publish an Erratum and correct the published version… - News
Case Discussion: Ethics of non-active management of a control group
…="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/suspected-ethical-problem-submitted-manuscript">What to do if you suspect an ethical problem with a submitted manuscript. Cooperation between research institutions and journals in research integrity cases. In the latter case, COPE states with respect to journals, that journals should… - Guidelines
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
…such as specific article types that do not undergo peer review. If an article's peer review is an exception to the usual policy, the article should state what review it received. Journals should not guarantee acceptance of initial manuscript submissions. Statements of peer review times should be supported by published timeframes on accepted papers. In the event of delays, authors…