- CaseOn-going
Would the loss of a clinical licence in one country impact on the ability to do clinical work in another?
The associate editor of journal X identified author Y on a submission paper as someone who had lost their license to practice due to malpractice. As part of the settlement, author Y had agreed to refrain from providing services to patients. Author Y now resides on a different continent, and the study presented in the submission was apparently carried out in in this continent. There is no… - Case
“Inadvertent” duplicate publication
The authors were asked to explain, especially as both papers had been submitted without either editor being advised of the other submission, and without a reference to the other journal in either paper. The authors claimed that the paper to this journal was a full report for the readers (one health profession) while the short report was to inform the readers of the other journal who comprised… - Case
Redundant publication
…neither of the two previous papers acknowledges the other. A letter was sent to the senior author, asking for an explanation. The senior author responded by saying that her submission letter to me stating that none of the work had been published elsewhere was a proforma letter and the signature was an oversight.… - CaseOn-going
Stolen article
…journal plans to contact the author regarding the latest submission, and ask for an explanation. The journal also plans to contact the authors of the conference proceedings to see if they have any insight as to how a different author group submitted the same work to the journal. After evaluating the responses, the journal may then contact the institutions of the authors of article A and possibly also… - Case
Dispute among authors
Our journal has received a paper describing a study that originated as more than one trial in more than one country, with collaboration by researchers in another country. The DSMB considered and agreed a proposal to combine the trials. It took many months to finally submit the manuscript to the journal after the end of trial. The delay in submission was caused… - CaseCase Closed
Controversy surrounding ethics approval
Journal A received a submission in which the authors conducted a field experiment. The authors noted that at the time of the experiment, ethics procedures were being developed at the authors' institution (institution A) and as a consequence of this, different departments within institution A had their own ethics procedures in place. The authors noted that they followed the procedures of their… - CaseCase Closed
Reader concerns about ethics approval and consent from a vulnerable population
…took place. At the conclusion of each investigation, the journal decided that retraction of the article was not warranted because the research was carried out in accordance with local institutional standards and journal guidelines. Although the subject area of the article has the potential for dual use, they did not consider it appropriate to retract the article because ethics approval… - Case
Prolific authors
We have noticed some authors who are publishing at a rate that is exceptionally high. (1) An author of a recent submission has published over 100 articles since January 2005; he had published fewer than 50 in the preceding 5 years. This is quite a sudden increase. On average, he published 1 article every 8 days in 2005, and in 2006 this increased to 1 every 4 days. The author is on the… - CaseCase Closed
Authors referring readers to an objectionable version of an article on a preprint site
…goal of posting content to a preprint server is to get feedback prior to journal submission, posting to a preprint server following acceptance seems redundant. Some journals have a policy that allows content posted to a preprint server prior to journal submission, but not afterwards. This may be a better solution than developing the policy proposed here. Many others allow a preprint up to the… - CaseCase Closed
Article published at two journals after withdrawal from first journal
…checking the dates, Journal B confirmed that submission to their journal occurred one month after the withdrawal confirmation from Journal A, meaning that the authors had not committed duplicate submission. In addition, Journal B rechecked the original iThenticate report that was generated when the authors submitted; the iThenticate report showed no previous publication of the article. Journal… - Case
Breach of peer review confidentiality
This case concerns a submitted review article that proposes a new theory in a field of research where there are two polarised positions. The original manuscript (R0) underwent peer review and was returned with reports indicating a major revision, which took several months. On submission of the revision, one of the reviewers from the previous round was asked to re-review. That reviewer… - CaseCase Closed
Withdrawal request by an author
We received a request by an author who states not to have contributed to an article published in 2015. The author claims that his name was used without his knowledge and that the corresponding author has been retired for several years and can no longer be reached. At the time of submission, we received a copyright transfer signed with the author’s name (we request all authors to sign the… - Case
Self-plagiarism?
…stating that he was happy with the publication. However, I have had another co-author request the paper they have been included on be delayed as they had not known of its submission until we contacted them. The author making the complaint states that the work belongs to him, not his student, but I understand that an MSc is written by the student and is the student's own work hence the student would have… - Case
Authorship dispute
An article was published with three authors’ names. Not all of the authors’ signatures had been included on the original submission letter. A complaint was lodged by Y, who said that X had submitted the paper without either his or Z’s consent or knowledge, and that there were several specific errors and omissions. Y then submitted a statement for publication in the journal dissociating himself… - Case
Ethical standards in animal research
The details of the experiment were “particularly gruesome” which meant that the validity of the data as a model for human disease was questionable. The editor intends publishing an editorial comment relating to submissions in general, possibly in the form of a review article on some aspect of good animal practice, with an accompanying editorial.… - Case
Double plagiarism
The editors of both the BMJ and New England Journal of Medicine have been in correspondence and have written to the editor of the German journal. The editors should ask the author for the original data. Editors of all of the other affected journals should be informed and then a collective submission should be made to the author’s institute. If the allegations can be proved, the institution… - CaseCase Closed
Withdrawal of an article
…the manuscript and advised the authors that no other journal would be able to publish their manuscript. A few weeks later the authors resubmitted the same manuscript to Journal A as a new submission. In their cover letter they said that their paper in Journal B had been withdrawn. However, a check of Journal B’s website shows that both the abstract and the article PDF have been replaced with… - CaseCase Closed
Exposing citation manipulation and fraud in the community
A publisher has identified a ring of three individuals who acted as guest editors for three special issues. These individuals used nine fake accounts to peer review manuscripts. For some manuscripts, the fake identities were used alongside legitimate reviewers, while in other cases they were used exclusively. The publisher has also identified several submissions to those special issues where… - CaseCase Closed
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…free of the use of the ethically inappropriate data. Given that the four letters were heavily based on the papers and cite data, figures, and equations, the decision was made not to publish the letters. The authors have complained that the journal has gone against COPE guidelines: "3.1 Editors should not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the… - CaseCase Closed
Accusation of non-attribution of authorship
…article. Modifications to the article to nationalise it were made by me but fully approved by the original author and submission was not done unless the author agreed. This process involved approaching the author for permission, an email exchange to confirm changes and a final sign off by the original author to indicate their satisfaction with the changes. No submissions were done without the approval of…