- CaseCase Closed
Reviewer asks trainee to review manuscript
…pushed him to return a detailed review, which he has now done. My question is: is giving this manuscript (not blinded, ie, author names and affiliations are evident) to the trainee a breach of confidentiality on the part of the reviewer? If so, what steps do you recommend taking?… - Case
An investigation into results that were “almost too good to be true”
A general medical journal received an RCT from a seldom-published, single-author, in an eastern European country. The results were striking, with an effect size that surpassed that of established medications for this condition, so the manuscript was sent for peer review. One reviewer commented that the results were “so highly statistically significant it is almost too good to be… - Case
Ethics approval for audit 3
…situation could also be explained to referees if needed. The editor and/or author could act as guarantor for the validity of the data.… - Case
Not getting consent from an ethics committee
…with that food. We discovered rather late in the day that the study had been done without ethics committee approval, despite the fact that the trial had been carried out in a major British hospital. The reason the authors gave for not submitting the study for ethics committee approval was: “because all children received advice on dietary exclusion. The only difference between the control and the… - CaseCase Closed
Enquiry regarding copyright/retractions
A journal received a paper that had previously been retracted from another publisher’s journal as a result of malpractice in the peer review process (a result of reviewer/editor misconduct rather than actions on the part of the authors). Having reviewed various sources of guidance, it would appear that there is some precedent for re-publication of retracted papers (suitably corrected… - CaseCase Closed
Image manipulation as a general practice
…community. It rather seems to us that many laboratories consider photographs as illustrations that can be manipulated, and not as original data. Thus gels are often cleaned of impurities, bands are cut out and photographs of plant material only serve to show what the authors want to demonstrate, and the material does not necessarily originate from the experiment in question. When the editor-in-chief… - Case
Effect of the British Human Tissue Acts on biological monitoring
…Authority for the storage of material from a human body (section 16e), for purposes which include “obtaining scientific or medical information about a living or deceased person which may be relevant to any other person (including a future person)” (Schedule 1). Most of the Act came into force in April 2006. The editor has been told by members of his Editorial Board that this is being deemed to… - CaseOn-going
Ethics approval and consent
…ethics codes and approval, which all seemed to be in order. Nevertheless, there is some scepticism due to the political context and the nature of the authors’ affiliations, some of which are governmental. Next step being considered are: asking the authors for more information about the conditions under which the consent was provided although it will be difficult to judge any… - CaseCase Closed
Duplicate publication and removal of article
The editor of journal A was alerted to the fact that an article published in journal A had been previously published in journal B and constituted a duplicate publication. The editor contacted the authors who explained that they had tried to withdraw the article from journal B but their request was ignored and the article was published against their wishes. The authors contacted journal… - CaseCase Closed
Inadequate assurance of human research ethics for a questionnaire
…intellectual capital and organizational performance. Partly due to the very high rate of response (148/160), consecutive queries were made to the authors about the procedures for subject consent. Our most recent (and direct) query was: "What we need to know more about is what was done to protect the interests of the individuals who were surveyed. Was there any inducement for them to take part… - Case
Ethical approval for retrospective study
A paper reported the clinical outcomes of patients suffering from a neglected disease before and after a change in the national treatment policy which raised the threshold of one laboratory parameter before a more toxic, but more effective drug could be used. The authors did a retrospective cohort study of patients treated under both policies, to see how this change affected outcomes. They did… - Flowcharts
Systematic manipulation of the publication process
…of scholarly work; publish fabricated or plagiarised research. Indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process are often recognised as suspicious patterns through: manuscript submission, such as numerous submissions to one or more journals, unusual author email addresses, submissions by a third party; the content and presentation of… - CaseCase Closed
Institution alleges that paper includes fabricated data
In 2014 we received a communication from the Research Integrity Officer of an academic institution informing us that a paper, published in our journal in 2013, included falsified or fabricated data. We were informed that, following an investigation, they had determined that scientific misconduct had occurred. Within a few days we received a communication from one of the authors of the… - CaseCase Closed
Service evaluation as research in a controversial area of medicine
…addition, the reader argued that service evaluations should not be presented as research articles as these are two separate things. The editor of the journal wrote to the author of the article and asked for comment on the issues raised. The author replied that there had been regular contact with the ethics committee as the service period of the clinic was extended, and the ethics committee… - Seminars and webinars
North American Seminar 2019: In the aftermath of authorship violations in philosophy
Michael Dougherty, Professor of Philosophy, Ohio Dominican University speaks about authorship violations in philosophy including: using pseudonyms in philosophy and how to avoid post-publication pseudonym surprises. why we should be concerned about plagiarism, types of plagiarism in philosophy and what are the options for whistleblowers? What editors and publisher… - Case
Ownership of an idea
A paper was submitted describing a novel technique for preparing tissue, which was noted immediately by a referee to be a modification of a method used by another researcher. The other researcher is thanked but is not included in the author list. The referee asks for advice as he feels that he is in a grey area of ownership of an idea and the degree of novelty needed to make it a “new” idea. … - Case
Unethical research
…methodological grounds but have also written to the authors asking them to provide information on the ethical aspects of the study. What should I do if the authors do not respond? What should I do if they respond with an unconvincing explanation-and it’s hard to see how they could respond with a convincing one?… - Flowcharts
What to consider when asked to peer review a manuscript
…guidance on the use of AI in reviewing Consider the review model and evaluation criteria If the reviewer has a good idea of who the authors are they should consider potential conflicts of interest Consider whether you have the necessary time and expertise to complete the review Sharing reviews is a possible mentoring opportunity but must be done with the permission of… - Discussion documents
Handling competing interests
…decision-making, or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to a journal. The principles of conflicts of interest are shared by many journals and publishers, but their policies to address them vary. Examples of COIs: payment to authors; close relationship with an author or editor; patent applications for a device that is the subject of the research. Editors… - Discussion documents
Addressing ethics complaints from complainants who submit multiple issues
On occasion a journal may get not one, but a series of complaints from the same source. Complaints may be directed at an author, an editor, or the journal in general. If these complaints turn out to be well founded, investigations should proceed as warranted. However, there are also cases where a complainant makes repeated allegations against a journal, editor, or author that turn out to be…