Peer review often does not detect misconduct. Editors need to be alert!
- Don't ignore it or just reject the paper
- Consult the COPE flowcharts (available in the resources section)
- Discuss with the publisher
- Consider taking legal advice
In most cases editors should NOT investigate cases themselves but should try to ensure that the appropriate bodies investigate the case.
Guiding principles
- Keep the case confidential as far as possible and don't discuss unproven accusations
- Keep complete and accurate records
- Remain neutral; state the facts and do not make accusations
- Give the accused an opportunity to respond
- Inform everyone involved (eg, all authors, funders, other editors at your journal)
Next steps
In most cases, journals should NOT investigate suspected misconduct themselves, but in some cases the evidence will be incontrovertible, for example if text matching software indicates major plagiarism or screening reveals image manipulation.
However, you should still give authors a chance to provide a satisfactory explanation
- But if the author's explanation is unsatisfactory and you have clear evidence of misconduct, you should consider retracting the article
- In most cases, the alleged misconduct is best investigated by the authors’ institution. In this case, you should wait for the results of the investigation, but you might consider publishing an expression of concern to notify readers about the investigation
- Expressions of concern could also be used if the institution refuses to investigate the case in an appropriate way
COPE’s retraction guidelines can be downloaded from the Resources section.