- Case
Reviewer requests to be added as an author after publication
…corresponding author also included pdfs of emails they had received from all of the authors (including E1 and R1) in which they agreed to be named as an author. The editor in chief has written to the corresponding author saying that it is not possible for R1 to be included in the author list as they had been a reviewer on the paper, and did not flag up at any time that they thought that they were an… - Case
What extent of plagiarism demands a retraction versus correction?
The editorial team took the feedback from the COPE Forum on board and notified the corresponding author’s institution of the allegations; the case is still being considered by the research integrity team at the institution. In addition, an editorial note has been added to the article to alert readers that concerns had been raised about the overlap between the original article and the student’s… - Case
Lead author of a research paper disagrees with content of a linked editorial
…of his complaints into account. The author requested that he be allowed to read the revised editorial and suggested that it should be sent for peer review. These requests were refused. However, at a press briefing just prior to publication, the authors saw a final version of the revised editorial. They contacted the journal and indicated they were dissatisfied with the revised editorial.… - Case
Service evaluation as research in a controversial area of medicine
We received an email from a reader relating to the ethics statement in a research article published in 2011. The article presented data collected at a clinic relating to a controversial area in medicine. The ethics statement in the article indicates that, in accordance with regional guidelines, the research ethics committee deemed that the study was a service evaluation and formal ethical… - Case
Plagiarism versus questionable research writing practice
…relying on the percentage match. The decision on how to proceed will depend on the level and nature of the copying, evidence that this was done knowingly, and any evidence of attempts to conceal this. Plagiarism detection software can be run at various points in the review process and the editor should consider doing it prior to manuscript acceptance to avoid other potential issues, such… - News
Case discussion: repeated complaints about a review
…core practices are related in the case, because the journal owner should ensure there are clear policies, procedures, guidelines, internal processes, and staff training programmes on how to efficiently and fairly manage complaints, correspondence, and repeated correspondence. Back to top Correspondence At the outset, there should be a contact person and… - News
Standards in Authorship webinar summary
…sciences on the topic of authorship. In the humanities, it is considered unethical if a supervisor is listed as an author on a student’s paper, a view at odds with that held in the sciences. As a result, the publication ethics issues in the humanities… - News
In the news: March 2021
…" target="_blank"> displaying self-reported data of editors' gender with the ultimate goal of helping to increase diversity and inclusivity. When people change their names for whatever reason, it is usually cumbersome if not impossible to correct their names on prior publications. Often, if a change is possible at all, it is accompanied by public documentation of a "correction" which for trans people… Code of conduct for COPE meetings and events
…code of conduct at any future meeting. If COPE feels that an individual's actions raise questions about the fitness of membership for that individual and/or the organization they represent, then COPE may suspend or expel that member by a two-thirds vote of the Trustee Board. If the individual is not a COPE member, they may be prohibited from attending future events. Related…- News
Guest editorial: Data availability statements
…responsibility lies with authors and editors to be aware of such relevant regulations at the time of publication to be articulated in the DAS. The inclusion of a DAS in articles should promote actual data sharing, recognizing that data sharing is a fundamental step towards increasing the reproducibility and trustworthiness of science. However, as indicated by Ian… - Case
Possible fabricated data: a conspiracy of silence?
…I have written to the National Committee on Ethics in Research in the author’s country but have had no reply. An international expert on the statistical detection of fraud is currently looking at the papers. He has some concerns but his investigation is ongoing. Dr X was a prolific researcher with about 16 of his own first authored papers cited in his clinical trial reports. It appears that many… - Case
Author non-disclosure by editor in chief
…the refinement of the text, their name should have been declared at the end of the editorial, particularly as Dr X was involved with the organisation that the editorial mentioned. We asked the editor to provide further clarification about Dr X’s involvement with the editorial. The editor replied to say that Dr X was a reviewer of his paper and that he, the editor, would not agree to general or even… - Case
Mislabelling/duplicate images
…a poster (associated with the review) that we had recently published. Although each paper had different authors, there was one author, author X, common to all the papers. The reader provided extensive evidence. I checked all the evidence myself, looking up the original sources and concurred with the reader that there was at least image duplication (I could not verify myself whether mislabelling… - Case
Serial plagiarism by an experienced author
…similarity index of less than 30%. Over 12% have a similarity index in excess of 40%—the level at which iThenticate gives a plagiarism alert. Excluding the eight submissions from Dr J, there were 9% falling into this category. The remaining 16% fall in the range 30–39% and have been investigated. In all of these cases, the overlap was in acceptable quotations and in the bibliography and no further action… - Case
Author of rejected paper publicly names and criticises peer reviewer
…website and in rejection letters adequate? Should we do anything else to prevent this from happening again? • Should peer reviewers who do research in the same field as authors of a paper declare this as a COI? If so, when? Almost all reviewers are chosen because they have expertise in the same field, and commonly their conclusions have differed in some respects from those of the authors. At… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Ethical practice in research data publication - challenges, lessons and opportunities
…style="margin: 3px 10px; float: left; width: 90px; height: 90px;" />Joerg Heber Research Integrity Officer, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory spoke from an institutional perspective, detailing universities roles in providing continuous education around research integrity and data sharing, and being a point of contact for dealing with issues and problems. He also spoke about the capacity of… - Forum discussion topics
Artificial intelligence (AI) and fake papers
…being used at the time that an article was produced. Tools are likely to change very quickly in scope and accuracy. There are related copyright issues, for example if an AI tool returns work very similar to something that is already published (text, images, art, etc). It was noted that these issues already exist where human authors are collating information from different sources or utilising… - News
In the news: January 2018 Digest
…src="/files/u7140/Transparency%20international_logo.png" style="width: 150px; height: 32px; margin: 3px; float: right;" />Meanwhile, four health integrity organisations have called for governments to ensure that patients, doctors, and scientists can access the full results of all clinical trials, as they claim that not doing so puts patients at risk - Case
Author requests for certain experts not to be included in the editorial process
…reviewing the paper. Some journals put a limit on the number of reviewers that can be recommended/request not to review. If the author requests a lot of reviewers to be excluded, then this could raise concerns. Many journals allow authors to specify "non-preferred" individuals at submission, but no guarantee is given that the editor will exclude those individuals, especially if they are considered…