- Translated resources
El autor solicita que ciertos expertos no participen en el proceso editorial: caso
Un autor potencial se puso en contacto con la oficina editorial de una revista para solicitar que ciertos expertos que participaron en la elaboración de guías sobre un tema particular no participasen en la revisión de su artículo. El autor nombró específicamente a ciertos de estos expertos, entre los que se incluía a miembros del consejo editorial de la revista. El autor justificó su sol… - 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… - Seminars and webinars
ISMTE webinar 2020: Citation games
…Citation games: mocking research Matt Hodgkinson, COPE Council member, was invited to speak at the ISMTE European Virtual Event 2020. Matt explored the ethics of citations, looking at who subverts best practice, why they do it, how they can be countered, and what are the consequences. From self-citing authors, to coercive revi… - Discussion documents
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… - Seminars and webinars
ISMTE webinar 2020: Transparency in the Publishing Process
…Ethical use of professional editorial and publishing support services Dr Trevor Lane, COPE Council member, was an invited speaker at the 2020 Asia Pacific Virtual Event of the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE), which was themed 'Evolving Trends in Scholarly Publishing'. In the session on 'Transparency in… - Research
Data sharing policies in scholarly publications: interdisciplinary comparisons
Michal Tal-Socher and Adrian Ziderman, are the authors of a paper funded by a COPE research grant. Their paper, Data sharing policies in scholarly publications: interdisciplinary comparisons, has been published in the journal Prometheus, and gives an assessment of current preferences for data sharing… - CaseCase Closed
Authors requesting withdrawal of articles from similarity check database in order to re-publish
An author's institution requires that authors publish a set amount of times per year in journals that are indexed by Scopus in order to retain their tenure. The author submits to an open access journal and their paper is published after processing charges are paid. After publication the journal is dropped from the Scopus index. The author asks for the paper to be withdrawn by the journal so tha… - 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… - Discussion documents
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… - Seminars and webinars
Webinar 2020: Understanding text recycling
In 2020 we hosted a webinar with invited speakers from the Text Recycling Research Project (TRRP) to hear about their latest findings, and the ethical and practical issues involved in establishing good practice and effective policy. Watch now - Translated resources
Webinar 2020: research and publishing ethics challenges and best practices
…China Association for Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis Group and Society of China University Journals co-organised webinar The webinar 'Research and publishing ethics: challenges and best practices' was endorsed and sponsored by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Taylor & Francis Group and Society of China University Journals who co-organised a series… - Research
Editing of reviewer comments: a COPE survey 2020
…Introduction Peer reviewers are asked to contribute intellectual work to assess and improve scholarly publications. As with all work, the quality and characteristics of peer reviews vary. Editors responsibilities include support not only to the peer reviewers who typically volunteer the time and knowledge but also to the authors, who reasonably should expect non-conflicted, thoughtful,… - Discussion documents
COPE Forum 6 March 2020: Editing of reviewer comments
…Editing of reviewer comments The topic for discussion at our March 2020 COPE Forum asked questions around the editing of reviewer comments. Peer reviewers are asked to contribute intellectual work to assess and improve scholarly publications. As with all work, the quality and characteristics of peer reviews vary. Editors responsibilities include support not only to the peer revi… - CaseCase Closed
Author displays bullying behaviour towards handling editor
A handling editor rejected a paper without review, after consulting with a senior editor. The corresponding author sent an appeal about 2 weeks later where he requested that the paper be given a second chance and be sent for peer review. He added that, in case of a new decision to reject without review, the editor should provide a detailed response to a number of questions and comments raised i… - CaseCase Closed
Author admits failure to credit other authors
An author submitted a manuscript and stated that he was the sole author. The manuscript received a favourable peer review and eventually was accepted. Some time after the article was published, a co-author told the author to contact the journal to correct the author list. The author of record (AOR) did this and supplied co-author names to the journal. The editor worked with the author… - CaseOn-going
Ethics approval for survey design
A manuscript was submitted to disseminate a cross correlational survey research study. The manuscript states that the data were collected through surveys for the two calendar months prior to initial manuscript submission, which occurred in the middle of the third month. The initial submission indicated the research followed the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, but no other human subje… - 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… - Discussion documents
COPE Forum 2 June 2020: What does peer review mean in the arts, humanities and social sciences?
The topic for discussion at our June 2020 COPE Forum asked the question: are there differences in gender and diversity issues in arts, humanities, and social sciences in peer review from other disciplines? In the recent study by COPE in collaboration with Taylor & Francis on the arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) disciplines, respondents focused on a number of language, qual… - 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
Allegations related to multiple papers and journals
A publisher is responding to allegations about a particular group of authors. The complainants have accused this group of authors of wide scale research fabrication and misconduct, relating to a large number of their papers across many different journals (published by a variety of publishers). The publisher and the journals that are investigating and responding to these claims have refer…