Happy New Year! Or at least Happy Lunar New Year to all.
I should also add a happy 25th anniversary to COPE. In 25 years of COPE, we have grown to reach broader and more diverse audiences who have an impact on integrity in research and its publication, and this year we will introduce universities and research institutes to the fold. Over the coming months, we will be reaching out to a small, targeted group of research universities and institutions to be our inaugural members of COPE. Simultaneously, we will be releasing new guidance and educational tools specifically designed to support universities and research institutes in advancing strong ethical practices. Our plan is to introduce COPE membership for universities and research institutes at our virtual COPE Seminar on 10 May. Hope to see you, virtually, there.
Once again, COPE will be supporting the World Conference on Research Integrity, in May this year, as a Rhino sponsor. The conference's overarching theme is “Fostering research integrity in an unequal world”. The conference will be a hybrid event with a live stream option for those who cannot attend in person. COPE will be participating in a panel session that will discuss the complexities involved in determining how and when to include the different stakeholders – journals, publishers, institutions, and national oversight bodies – when ethics cases are exposed. I, as COPE Chair, will moderate the discussion, and the panelists include Elisabeth Bik, science consultant, Matt Hodgkinson, COPE Council member, and Paula Saner, research integrity advisor at the University of Cape Town. This should be an interesting and educational session.
To widen the breadth and scope of conversations around research and publishing ethics, we encourage COPE members to submit guest articles and opinion pieces for our monthly newsletters, so please help us increase the diversity of voices and opinions on topics of interest. In this issue, we have an editorial by Lorriane Estelle of Think. Check. Submit.on how to avoid submitting your article to a predatory publisher, and advice on what to look out for. Always a timely subject.
We have a lot of other interesting content in this month’s Digest. Although some are directed at those that are early in their publication ethics journey, like the new Ethics Toolkit for a successful editorial office that explains expected ethical practices in scholarly publishing and highlights resources to develop codes of ethical conduct and practice, these resources are always good as refreshers for everyone at all levels.
So enjoy!
Dan Kulp, COPE Chair
COPE Digest newsletter: February 2022
Find out how to develop ethical practices and policies in your editorial office using COPE's new Ethics Toolkit for the Editorial Office and watch a recording of our recent Seminar session "Introduction to publication ethics" where COPE Council members work through real ethics cases. Plus publication ethics news gathered by COPE Council members.