Handling ethics cases can be a difficult, complex task, particularly when multiple papers and journals are involved. These guidelines have been developed to help editors conduct investigations with greater efficiency and effectiveness, and support consistency, fairness and transparency in communicating with authors and institutions.
Becoming an editor of a journal is an exciting but daunting task, especially if you are working alone without day to day contact with editorial colleagues
This guidance has been updated following a COPE Forum Discussion in 2013, initiated in the wake of a number of high-profile cases of research misconduct in which the sharing of information between the relevant EiCs was crucial to the final settlement of the cases.
Key points
- Confidential treatment of submissions and authors remains fundamental, and care and consideration must be taken in selecting materials to share, and in the methods and motives of sharing.
- Sharing of information between EiCs should only be undertaken when it becomes necessary in fulfilling the EiC’s obligation to respond to suspected research misconduct.
- Information shared should be restricted to factual content only, avoiding conjecture, supposition, or inference.
- Journals should inform authors when information will be shared with other editors.
- EiCs should follow the same guidelines when sharing information regarding possible misconduct in a submitted (but as yet unpublished) manuscript and a published article
COPE welcomes feedback from publishers, journal editors, reviewers, researchers, institutions, librarians, funders, and other stakeholders on this subject. Add your feedback below.
Related resource
Retraction Guidelines, COPE Guidelines
Sharing of information among editors-in-chief regarding possible misconduct COPE Forum discussion 2013
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About this resource
Cite this as: COPE Council. COPE Discussion Document: Sharing of information among editors-in-chief regarding possible misconduct. February 2014.
Version 1: February 2014
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