- Guidelines
Guidelines for the Board of Directors of Learned Society Journals
The journals of Learned Societies are an important part of the scientific literature. Their management should be of the highest quality and ethically sound. First, the relationship of Editors of the journals of Learned Societies to those Societies is often complex. However, notwithstanding the economic and political realities of their journals, directors of Learned Societies should respe… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Driving diversity, equity, and inclusion to shape the future of publication ethics
… #C0PE2021 Thursday 30 September 2021, 12:00 - 13:15 (British Summer Time) (UTC +1) Find out what time this is in your country Registration for the Seminar is now closed. - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Trustworthy AI for the future of publishing
… #C0PE2021 Tuesday 28 September 2021 11.00am - 12.15pm (British Summer Time) (UTC +1) Find out what time this is in your country Registration for the Seminar has now closed. - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Introduction to publication ethics
#C0PE2021 Friday 1 October 2021, 12:00 - 13:30 (British Summer Time) (UTC +1) Find out what time this is in your country Registration for the Seminar has now closed. - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Authorship for sale - how do we deal with the growing problem of paper mills?
… #C0PE2021 Wednesday 29 September 2021, 11.00am -12.30pm (British Summer Time) (UTC +1) Find out what time this is in your country Registration for the Seminar has now closed. - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 9 June 2021: Coordinating multi-journal complaints
…When and how to involve multiple journals and publishers in dealing with complaints from whistleblowers Complaints received from whistleblowers can develop into large investigations with multiple journals, editors, and publishers involved. Such complaints may involve many articles from a single author group or multiple author groups whose articles are linked… - Translated resources
El editor y los revisores solicitan que se cite su trabajo: caso
La oficina editorial tuvo conocimiento de una carta de decisión en la que un editor solicitaba a un autor que citase un artículo publicado por el propio editor. Una investigación en mayor profundidad destapó un patrón de comportamiento preocupante: el editor solicitaba en las cartas (incluidos también los comentarios de los revisores) que se añadiesen citaciones de sus trabajos en más de 50 cas… - Translated resources
Proceso de revisión por pares comprometido en artículos publicados: caso
Al percatarse de un alto volumen de envíos del autor A, el editor X mostró su preocupación sobre los revisores sugeridos por el autor y sus comentarios. El autor A había sugerido en la mayoría de los casos los mismos revisores para todos los envíos, los revisores sugeridos tenían direcciones de correo electrónico imposibles de verificar, los comentarios se devolvían muy rápido (en 24 horas) y e… - Translated resources
El autor de un artículo rechazado nombra y critica de forma pública al revisor por pares: caso
El autor principal de un artículo rechazado para su publicación identificó y nombró de forma pública a uno de los cuatro revisores durante una entrevista con los medios de comunicación tras publicar el artículo en otra revista. El autor dio a entender en la entrevista y más tarde en Twitter que el artículo había sido rechazado por la revisión de este revisor y afirmó que el revisor no había rev… - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 15 December 2020: Predatory publishing
…Predatory publishing: next steps and where do we go from here? Since COPE drafted a discussion paper on the topic of predatory publishing in 2019, many more scholarly papers have been published on various aspects of this issue so there is no lack of research into t… - CaseOn-going
How to respond to a reader's repeated concerns
A meta-analysis was published in a journal ahead of print, and then subsequently in print. Several months later, the journal was contacted by a faculty member at a university not connected with the study. The reader outlined three general concerns with the meta-analysis. The concerns were discussed by the editorial team, including the statistical editor, and it was decided that the overall resu… - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 4 September 2020: paper mills
Systematic manipulation of the publishing process via “paper mills” Increasingly, across the research publishing landscape, publishers are seeing large scale manipulation of the publication process. The production of fraudulent papers at scale via alleged ‘paper mills’ is one such manipulation. Paper mills are profit oriented, unofficial and po… - CaseCase Closed
Is approval needed for a social media survey?
An author has contacted the journal enquiring about the need for institutional review board approval for a survey. The survey is not derived from a specific institution but rather out of the personal interest of the author(s) who are targeting a point of wide scientific interest. The authors have a broad reach in social media. The topic is of significant interest to the field, and there… - CaseCase Closed
Sharing by a reviewer on social media
A journal operated double blind peer-review, so the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors, and vice versa. However, the anonymity of the authors is not guaranteed, as the reviewers may discover the identity of the authors (because of the area of research, references, writing style, etc). But rarely can the authors identify the reviewers. The journal received a request from a… - CaseOn-going
Institution wants to retract despite ongoing legal proceedings
The case has been with two publishers for more than a year. Journal A at publisher A published article A by author A, affiliated to institution A and institution B (in another country), and author B affiliated to institution B. Journal B at publisher B then published article B, by the same authors and affiliations. The two articles are on closely related research. Shortly after publicati… - Discussion documents
Predatory publishing
The COPE predatory publishing discussion document introduces issues, and analyses potential solutions, around predatory publications. COPE welcomes comments which add to this ongoing debate. Common features of the phenomenon include deception and lack of quality controls, and there are a range of warning signs to look for when assessing a journal. Problems for authors, readers, and other… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2019: Exploring Publication Ethics Issues in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
We set out to ask: •Are AHSS editors aware of COPE and how can we best communicate our services to them? •What issues are they dealing with that are problematic and what do they need in terms of support? •What is COPE not currently providing? Respondents were asked to report issues that were most widespread and frequent: 1) Addressing langu… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2019: Analysis of retractions, initiators and reasons for retractions
Session on retractions at the European Seminar 2019 chaired by Heather Tierney, COPE Council, with presenter Thed Van Leeuwen, who shares the results of a study of all retracted papers published in journals processed for the Web of Science (WoS). Thed Van Leeuwen describes the reasons for retractions, motivation for retraction and who retracts. Catriona Fennell gives the publisher's perspective… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2019: COPE retraction guidelines
Session on retractions at the European Seminar 2019, with speaker Howard Browman who shares a review of the updated Retraction Guidelines from COPE. During the session we also heard from Thed Van Leeuwen and Catriona Fennell. Links to their presentations are below: Watch now - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2019: Retractions, a publisher's perspective
Catriona Fennell, Director of Publishing Services, Elsevier gives a publisher's perspective, and shares her own experience, at this session on retractions at the COPE European Seminar 2019. Thed Van Leeuwen speaks about the scientometrics of retractions, and Howard Browman shares the latest on COPE's revised retraction guidelines. Watch now To hear Catriona Fennell's presentatio…