In our March issue of Digest Deborah Poff, COPE Chair, shares guidance and cases relevant to anyone who is new to publication ethics issues or needs a refresher. Following our recent Forum, we'd love to hear your views relating to editing of peer review comments in our survey. The results of the survey, together with the Forum discussion and comments on our website, will inform a COPE discussion document on the topic bringing together the shared views.
The case discussion is around the case 'Withdrawal of paper at proof stage'. An original paper was submitted to a journal, peer reviewed, revised by the authors, and accepted by the manuscript editor. It was scheduled for publication 3 months later. After the paper was copyedited and typeset, the corresponding author was informed of the acceptance and was asked to proofread the article. After 2 weeks, however, the corresponding author requested that the paper be withdrawn. The chief editor asked for an explanation and brought the case to COPE Forum.
We also share the latest publication ethics news as gathered by COPE Council members.
Read March Digest: Publication ethics
nb an error in the email states this is 'April issue' instead of March issue