- Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum: 13 November 2017: Self-Citation: where's the line?
A recent post on Scholarly Kitchen [1] raised some interesting points about the ethics surrounding citation, and specifically self-citation. Previously, COPE has discussed related issues surrounding self-citation by journals and editors [2] and citation of preprints [3]. During this forum, we broadened the discussion… - CaseCase Closed
Transparency of peer review to co-authors
An associate editor of one of our journals has asked whether we can configure our online peer review system to restrict access to reviewer correspondence to corresponding authors. His concern is that some of the review materials (eg, a harsh critique) might be embarrassing for the principal investigator if accessed by a co-author who was a junior investigator or laboratory technician. Similarly… - Case
Plagiarism and possible fraudulent publication
An article written by eminent doctors on a subject of great public interest, with implications for public health policy, was published in Journal A. They subsequently wrote to Journal A, indicating that an article had been published in Journal B, which heavily plagiarised theirs. The editor of Journal A wrote to the authors of the second paper, but has received no satisfactory replies. The seco… - Case
Online trial of a new diagnostic tool
A paper was submitted that attempted to evaluate a new tool for diagnosing an acute symptom. This symptom is one that could be linked with various medical conditions—some causing little harm and some life threatening. The researchers recruited (and continue to recruit) patients into the study through a website devoted to this symptom. Patients viewing the website are asked if they would like to… - Seminars and webinars
ISMTE webinar 2020: Citation games
…href="https://publicationethics.org/citation-manipulation-discussion-document">Citation manipulation discussion document, 2019 Reviewer requesting addition of multiple citations of their own work, 2019 Citations: link, locate, discover, connect Guest article, August… - CaseOn-going
Duplicate articles due to DOI reassignment
The editors of Journal C have found that 15 of their recent articles have been assigned slightly different DOIs in the Online First and the final issue versions. This arose from administrative problems with the publisher’s production process and has resulted in duplicated articles in both spaces, and there may be other duplicate articles due to reassigning different DOIs. The editors of… - CaseCase Closed
Where should journals escalate serious concerns about an institution or institutional review board?
A publisher received a submission to one of their journals that raised ethical concerns. The concerns were related to potential harm or undue risk for participants who may be vulnerable. The publisher reviewed the ethics approval statement, and the authors had met the journal’s policy requirements by prospectively obtaining ethics approval from their institution before beginning the rese… - Guidelines
Retraction guidelines
…="https://publicationethics.org/resources/seminars-and-webinars/european-seminar-2019-analysis-retractions-initiators-and-reasons">The scientometrics of retractions, COPE European Seminar 2019 Retractions: a publisher's perspective, COPE European Seminar 2019 - Translated resources
¿Qué constituye una autoría?
…href="https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.3.3">https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.3.3 Related resource Guías éticas para revisores pares Introducción a la etica de la publicación … - Translated resources
Qué considerar al ser invitado a hacer una revisión por pares de un manuscrito
Qué considerar al ser invitado a hacer una revisión por pares de un manuscrito For the latest version (English language) of this guidance visit https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.2.17 Related resources - Discussion documents
How should editors respond to plagiarism? April 2011
…Contents Aims and scope Background Introduction Types of plagiarism 2.1 Extent 2.2 Originality of copied material 2.3 Position / context 2.4 Referencing / attribution 2.5 Intention 2.6 Author seniority 2.7 Language Detecting and responding to plagiarism Screening for plagiarism Defining… - Case
Editor as author in own journal
This journal specialises in one form of treatment. It is the only Medline listed journal that is widely accessed in Europe by people who use this form of treatment. No international journals provide a suitable alternative. In the USA, the one journal most similar to this is much less specialised and hardly ever accessed in Europe. The journal editor is a leading researcher in this form… - Case
Duplicate submission of a paper
A paper concerning the prevention of coronary disease in primary care was received. This examined the practical consequences of following some recent national recommendations and suggested that the recommendations were unrealistic. A few weeks later another paper from the same authors was submitted, which the editor who first read it thought was probably an inadvertent duplicate submission of t… - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 12 March 2013: Text recycling
…="https://publicationethics.org/resources/seminars-and-webinars/european-seminar-2019-text-recycling-research-project">Text recycling research project, COPE European Seminar 2019, with members of the Text Recycling Research Project… - CaseCase Closed
Is ethics committee approval necessary for retrospective clinical studies?
A journal received a manuscript on risk factors for a disease, which had no ethics committee approval or dispensation. The clinical data were collected from the electronic and physical histories of the patients during hospitalization. The authors stated that the study was not submitted to an ethics review board because these data are "secondary." In some countries, this type of research will re… - Guidelines
Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers
…source material and the type of review requested. The model of peer review will also influence elements of the process. Related resources Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers (Chinese) Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers… - Translated resources
Webinar 2020: research and publishing ethics challenges and best practices
…on Research Assessment (DORA), 2012 The Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics, 2015 The Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers, 2019 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Ethics in Scientific Research, RAND, 2019 Reproducibility and reliability of biomedical research: improving research practice, 2015 Suggestions for action to support… - Translated resources
Cómo reconocer la potencial manipulación del proceso de revisión por pares
…involucrados en el proceso se conducen con integridad (Ref 1), el proceso de revisión por pares es susceptible de manipulación (Ref 2-4) tal como se comentó en el Seminario COPE 2016 en América del Norte For the latest version (English language) of this guidance visit https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.2.15 Related resources … - CaseOn-going
Re-publication of peer reviewed articles as translations
Journal A is planning on publishing translations of some of their articles, either in the publisher's national journal or in a web publication as popularized versions. Both are diamond open access journals which are indexed by DOAJ. One publishes in English, the other in two other languages. Questions for COPE Council What would be good ethical practice for this? - CaseCase Closed
Sanctions for citation cartels?
Multiple journals appear to be affected by a citation cartel between a group of researchers across three universities, via the medium of special issues. All articles within the issues contain a high proportion of citations to the same researchers at the three universities, many as high as 100%. Looking at the pattern of citations to these researchers' work, they have only ever been cited in the…