- Case
Randomised controlled trial without ethics committee approval
The ethics committee of the journal felt that what the authors had done was reasonable. But the paper was eventually rejected on scientific grounds. Had acceptance been recommended, the journal’s editorial advisory committee would have followed COPE’s advice to publish the paper with an editorial commentary.… - Case
Paper submitted by a PR company without the knowledge of the authors
A case for the record, and one that could be used when reviewing the COPE guidelines.… - CaseCase Closed
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
…is unlikely. Questions for the Forum After how many years is it acceptable to leave a case unresolved because it would be ineffectual to pursue an investigation? Is there a cut-off point? If there is a cut-off point then should the journal respond to the comment/concern, for example, by posting a note on PubPeer to say that due to the age of the paper and… - CaseCase Closed
Lack of trial registration leads to new concerns about study conduct and ethical review/approval
The Forum agreed that the editor certainly has enough grounds to issue an expression of concern. However, most agreed with the suggestion that the editor should submit a formal request for an investigation to be carried out by the institution. If the investigation provides evidence of misconduct, then the editor should retract the paper. However, some of the Forum argued that there are… - CaseCase Closed
Authorship dispute
The Forum agreed that the current paper cannot stand in its present form—some form of correction of the literature needs to be done. It is clear that the data are the intellectual property of Dr B, but this is essentially an authorship dispute, and it is up to the authors to resolve it. Although the results of the paper are not in dispute, the editor could decide to retract the paper and tell… - Case
Duplicate publication in a non-English language journal
The majority of the members of the Forum agreed that there were grounds for retraction of the paper. However, others argued that as the papers were in different languages, a “notice of duplicate publication” would be more appropriate. All agreed that this was a definite case of misconduct. There are two issues here: (1) the author issue in relation to the names on the two papers and (2) the… - Case
A case of parallel publication?
…language-only paper more widely, but wonder whether the authors should have been more forthcoming or accurate in their citations and covering letter. We would be grateful if COPE could advise us on the correct course of action in this case, and also provide more general guidance about the acceptability of publishing similar material in multiple languages.… - Case
Ethics, institutional review and studies from private practice
The COPE code of conduct states that if an editor considers research presented in a submitted paper may be unethical, then the matter should be investigated. This would be so even if ethical committee approval had been obtained. However, contacting the institutions of the authors may not achieve very much as the work was conducted at the private clinic and they are affiliated with outside… - Case
Suspected plagiarism
We had a case of suspected plagiarism recently on one of our journals, on which I would appreciate COPE’s advice. The case has been resolved, so this is not in the least urgent, but I would be interested to hear your views. Very briefly, at review stage the editor spotted substantial similarities between a paper submitted to our journal and a review published recently in a related… - 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 - Case
Possible breach of confidentiality by a reviewer
The editor has had no further contact from the authors or the referee. The referee has not been used since by the journal, although he has not officially been removed from the database. The authors made no comment when the editor told them the advice they had received from COPE. The editor still feels he was right not to remove the referee from the database. The journal considers the case… - Case
Ethical approval and parental consent
As advised, the editor notified the director of the unit in the USA of his concerns and the recommendations of COPE, and notified the author of them also. No response from either has been forthcoming and the editor plans to follow up with a letter in one month.… - Case
Possibly unethical report on the safety and efficacy of a minor operation
The editor wrote to the author’s institution, informing the author about this course of action. The author had requested a copy of the letter and also the COPE minute on the case. The chief executive of the institution agreed to fully investigate the case. The medical director convened a Trust committee/panel, which concluded that the doctor’s activities did not count as research and gave the… - CaseCase Closed
Nuisance author
The advice from the Forum was that the editor could consider publishing an editorial on this issue, explaining what has happened and putting the journal’s side of the story. This is especially relevant if the editor feels that the reputation of his journal has been damaged. To avoid a similar incident in the future, the advice was to consider asking authors to name their institution on… - Research
CrossCheck guidance: an analysis of typical cases of plagiarism in different disciplines 2010
…was partly funded by the COPE grant.… - Case
Ethical approval for retrospective study
The authors took a long time to revise their paper. The end result was that COPE's recommendations were followed, the authors requested and received retrospective permission from the government in which their study was done to use the data in this way, and the paper will be published in an upcoming issue with an editorial setting the scene.… - Case
Patient consent
…disease would rarely ever give consent; a view that the Editor certainly shared. Was this the correct decision not to publish? The authors have withdrawn their paper, pending discussion at COPE.… - Case
Possible suppression of data
Among the recommendations made by COPE was a suggestion that the author should contact the MHRA and may wish to discuss his concerns with an investigative reporter. It appears that the author took up this suggestion, as a story about the matter appeared first in the Times Higher Educational Supplement and then on the front page of the Observer (a national UK Sunday newspaper) on… - Case
CV study: was ethics approval and consent required?
…helped them draft a statement to potential applicants. - The human resources department does not “own” the CVs. - The likely harm from sending out the questionnaire was minimal in this instance, but the seemingly casual approach to the maintenance of confidential personal information at the trust was a cause for concern. - The editor should write to the authors to inform them of COPE’s views. - The…