- Case
Repetitive duplicate submission to multiple journals and redundant publication
…submitted to J8, J2, and J7. J2 contacted J8 about possible duplicate submission. J8 rejected MsD based on reviewer reports and also added a note to the author informing them that there had been a report of possible duplicate submission with their Ms. The abstract of MsD has been found to be identical to the abstract of an article published in June 2005 in J10 with the exception of two… - Case
Potential duplicate publication
…B (ahead of the joint site/national agency paper) or to Journal C (when the joint site/national agency papers were under review with Journal B). The corresponding author of paper 3 published in Journal C was contacted. This author did not reply, but a response was received from two other authors on behalf of all the authors at site 1. This stated: 1. The authors felt that the emphasis and message in the… - CaseCase Closed
Should stockholders of a pharmaceutical industry declare conflicts of interest in a research paper?
…(potential or actual) at the time of publication at the latest (and when submitting at the earliest). Once an article is published, disclosure of arising conflicts is not necessary unless the conflicts were 'potential' in the sense that they could be perceived as influencing the article in question (eg, a favorable product review that supports the author's application for employment at a related company).… - CaseCase Closed
Plagiarism versus questionable research writing practice
…relying on the percentage match. The decision on how to proceed will depend on the level and nature of the copying, evidence that this was done knowingly, and any evidence of attempts to conceal this. Plagiarism detection software can be run at various points in the review process and the editor should consider doing it prior to manuscript acceptance to avoid other potential issues, such… - Case
Simultaneous publication
…reported in these two papers were obtained separately rather than the same results reported in two papers. In addition to those readers who sent emails to us, the reviewers of Paper X and a few editorial board members of Journal A who read these two papers all agreed that the two papers were highly similar. We contacted the office of Journal B and the Editor, and received a message… - Forum discussion topics
Claiming institutional affiliations
…this discussion from COPE Members and non-members here: Your comments You must be logged in to leave a comment on the COPE website. If you are not a member of COPE you can register to create a guest account. Comments will not appear immediately. We review comments on our website before publishing them, to ensure they are… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Ethical authorship versus fraudulent authorship
In this webinar, the speakers cover ways of promoting ethical authorship and preventing fraudulent authorship. The CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system, authorship definitions and policies, and relevant operating procedures and education are reviewed from institutional and publishing perspectives. This session is one of - CaseCase Closed
Suspected image manipulation involving four journals
…papers involved, including the unpublished papers submitted to journal A which were rejected without review? Would this breech confidentiality or would the importance for full enclosure trump confidentiality concerns in this situation? As most of the suspected issues only become apparent when the brightness/contrast levels of images is adjusted, journal A has put together PowerPoint files for each… - Case
Undeclared competing interests
…to decide for themselves the relevance of the conflict of interest to the paper’s conclusions. - It is good practice for journals to ensure that they have a clear policy on conflict of interest. - Some journals send the paper back to the original reviewers and ask them to comment on whether the conflict of interest would have changed their opinion on the paper. - Retraction of a paper for an… - CaseCase Closed
Lack of ethical approval and not reporting experimental evidence
In May 2011 a letter from the Vice-Rector for Personnel of a reputable university was sent to the editor mentioning that two articles published in the journal contained two statements not supported by documented evidence. The two statements related to: (1) approval of the local ethics committee and (2) representation of the experimental evidence. With regard to point (1), the authors sta… - CaseCase Closed
Handling self-admissions of fraud
…replicate the study, and it is in the interests of the corresponding author if he wishes to stand by his allegations. The journal does have a responsibility to pursue an independent investigation if the journal thinks the institutional investigation was not evidence based. The journal should give the corresponding author a time limit, after which the journal should review the situation and either amend… - Case
Request for a retraction of a retraction
In October 2000, a journal published a retraction of a February 2000 publication of a research paper. In the same issue the dean of the corresponding author’s medical school reported the findings of an investigational committee that found, contrary to what was stated in the paper: · There was no ethics committee… - Seminars and webinars
COPE webinar: Enhancing partnerships of institutions and journals
…what extent can institutions share information regarding investigations? What is reasonable to share to move investigations on? Can and should institutions review an individual's entire publication record if they have committed serious misconduct. As well as being useful to the institution itself, this would alert other employers and publishers. - Forum discussion topics
Dealing with complaints about the integrity of published research
…We welcome comments on this discussion from members and non-members. You must be logged in to leave a comment on the COPE website. If you are not a member of COPE you can register to create a non-member account. Comments will not appear immediately. We review comments on our website before publishing them, to ensure they are…