COPE provides leadership in thinking on publication ethics and practical resources to educate and support members, and offers a professional voice in current debates.
'The peer review process depends to a large extent on the trust and willing participation of the scholarly community and requires that everyone involved behaves responsibly and ethically.' During Peer Review Week the theme is 'trust'. Read more in our Digest newsletter.
Our core practices
Core practices are the policies and practices journals and publishers need, to reach the highest standards in publication ethics. We include cases with advice, guidance for day-to-day practice, education modules and events on topical issues, to support journals and publishers fulfil their policies.
Guidance & discussion
Peer reviewers play a crucial role in ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. Learn from the experience of other peer reviewers, editors and researchers, condensed into these COPE guidelines, to guide your own policies and practices. Available in English, Chinese and Spanish.
The peer review process depends to a large extent on the trust and willing participation of the scholarly community and requires that everyone involved behaves responsibly and ethically.
"Confidentiality needs to be understood and maintained by both authors and reviewers". Read more about the conditions of trust that are expected during the review process, with practical advice and guidance.
This flowchart lays out the steps you might go through when you decide whether or not to review a manuscript.
How to avoid authorship issues and steps to take when issues arise, specific guidance where there seems to be consensus and asking for further comments in some areas. Guidance for editors, authors and research institutions
We bring together support and guidance on issues that have come about during this crisis. The collection includes articles on how authors, editors and reviewers are handling their work during this period and guidelines developed in response to the changing environment and workflow.
Dr Trevor Lane, spoke at a webinar co-organised by the China Association for Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis Group and the Society of China University Journals. See the presentation, in Chinese and English, introducing the trend, challenges and best practices in research and publishing ethics. Plus real publication ethics cases with advice.
Increasingly, large scale manipulations of the publication process are being seen across the research publishing landscape. The production of fraudulent papers at scale via alleged "paper mills" is one such manipulation. Read the summary of issues and add your experience to the discussion.