- Flowcharts
English: all flowcharts
For ease of use, we have gathered together here all of COPE's flowcharts into one downloadable PDF file (18 pages): What to do if you suspect redundant (duplicate) publication (2 flowcharts) What to do if you suspect plagiarism (2 flowcharts) What to do if you suspect fabricated data (2 flowcharts) Changes in authorship (4 flowcharts) What to do i… - Flowcharts
What to do if you suspect an ethical problem
COPE's guidance, as a flowchart, on what to do if you suspect an ethical problem with a submitted manuscript. … - Guidelines
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
Introduction The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) are scholarly o… - Guidelines
Journals’ Best Practices for ensuring consent for publishing medical case reports: guidance from COPE
Introduction The publication of case reports is a common practice in medical journals, and increasingly in basic science journals when an article illustrates a specific scientific point (e.g., a genetic phenotype). There is no doubt that case reports are valuable in the academic literature. However, they pose a specific ethical challenge for journals because, by their ve… - Guidelines
Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct
…Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct Introduction This guidance has been drafted following a COPE Discussion Forum (4 September 2013) and - Guidelines
A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors
Background/structure 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 short guide aims to summarise key issues and to provide links to relevant pages of the COPE website as well as those of other organisations. 1. Initial assessment of journal wh… - Guidelines
Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity cases: guidance COPE
Summary Institutions and journals both have important duties relating to research and publication misconduct. Institutions are responsible for the conduct of their researchers and for encouraging a healthy research environment. Journals are responsible for the conduct of their editors, for safeguarding the research record, and for ensuring the reliability of everything t… - Discussion documents
COPE Forum 11 February 2019: Diversity and inclusion in research publishing
It is widely recognised that teams and organisations in all sectors of society perform better and make better decisions when they embrace diversity and inclusion in their culture and, particularly, among their leadership. Diversity refers to having a wide range of human differences in the composition of a team. Inclusion, inclusivity, or inclusiveness refers to ensuring that all team members fe… - Resources and further reading
International standards for editors and authors
During the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010, COPE helped develop two position statements setting out international standards for responsible research publication for editors and authors. They have been published as part of the conference proceedings under a Creative Commons licence* (details of the proceedings are available from the publisher,- Responsible research publication position statements
- Responsible research publication: international standards for authors
- Responsible research publication: international standards for editors
- Global standards for authors and editors tackle thorny issues such as research bias and misleading publicity
- CaseCase Closed
Authorship conflict
2018Author A contacted our journal following publication of a manuscript claiming that he was the rightful author. We asked the author for proof and he said that he had all of the data concerning the patient because he received the operative specimen and made the diagnosis. Author A said he also collaborated in writing the article with author B and hence was surprised that neither his name nor his… - CaseCase Closed
Scientific misconduct claim from a whistleblower where the institution will not investigate
2018A journal received an allegation of scientific misconduct from an anonymous individual stating they were from the group that had written the paper (Institution-1, there are two institutions involved in this research). The email stated that the scientific bases of the article were unreliable. The paper was currently with the authors who were revising the paper after the first round of review, an… - Translated Resources
Principios de Transparencia y Mejores Prácticas en Publicaciones Académicas
Introducción El Committee on Publication Ethics (Comité de Ética para Publicaciones (COPE)), el Directory of Open Access Journals (Directorio de Revistas de Acceso Abierto (DOAJ)), la Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (Asociación de Editores Académicos de Acceso Abierto (OASPA)) y la - Translated Resources
Princípios de Transparência e Boas Práticas em Publicações Acadêmicas
Introdução O Committee on Publication Ethics (Comitê de Ética em Publicações-COPE), o Directory of Open Access Journals (Diretório de Revistas de Acesso Aberto-DOAJ), a Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (Associação de Editores Acadêmicos de Acesso Aberto-OASPA) e a - CaseCase Closed
Retrospective registration, outcome switching and ethical approval
2018Journal A received a number of concerns from a reader regarding a paper published in the journal. These concerns were reviewed and sent to the authors of a paper, along with additional comments from the editorial board. The concern was largely around retrospective registration, and an inconsistency between the trial registry record and the published paper. An editorial board member conducted a… - CaseCase Closed
Ethics of non-active management of a control group
2017An article was submitted involving over 200 pregnant patients with a systemic illness (from 2010 to 2015) who were recruited and assigned to a control group or an active intervention group (of their systemic illness). The control group received routine antenatal care while the intervention group had active surveillance and management of their systemic illness during the pregnancy. There… - CaseCase Closed
Service evaluation as research in a controversial area of medicine
2017We 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 revie… - Discussion documents
Best practice in theses publishing. March 2017
Introduction Traditionally, theses for higher degrees were published by universities in hard copy only. Now increasingly, these are also archived and may be made freely available via university repositories. They may or may not have associated licenses such as those from Creative Commons which also allow reuse. Questions have arisen at COPE forums and other venues… - Seminars and webinars
Publication ethics: The last 20 years - Elizabeth Wager, Publications Consultant and Trainer, Sideview
For COPE's 20th Anniversary, the 2017 COPE European Seminar invited Liz Wager to look back at the last twenty years of publication ethics. … - Seminars and webinars
COPE: Today and tomorrow - Chris Graf, COPE co-Vice-Chair and Geraldine Pearson, COPE co-Vice-chair
For the 2017 COPE European Seminar, co-chairs Geri Pearson and Chris Graf reflected on the COPE of today and the COPE of tomorrow. ' … - Seminars and webinars
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: what do they need from COPE?
At the 2017 COPE European Seminar, Deborah Kahn, Publishing Director of Medicine and Open Access at Taylor & Francis presented her thoughts on what the arts, humanities and social sciences need from an organisation such as COPE. …