When institutions are contacted by journals

A journal editor or publisher raises an ethical issue or concern about an article either before or after publication. The flowchart offers the institution a step by step process on handling the issue.

Key points

• Institutions should make contact details for research ethics complaints or research complaints clear on their website. 
• Institutions and publishers should communicate at each step of the process.
• When an investigation identifies an error the institution should include recommendation of a correction or retraction, depending which is appropriate to the case.
• Policies and training should be updated where necessary.

Related resources

• Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity cases, COPE Guidelines, March 2024
• RePAIR Consensus Guidelines Responsibilities of Publishers, Agencies, Institutions, and Researchers (RePAIR) in protecting the integrity of the research record
• CLUE Guidelines, Cooperation and liaison between universities and editors

Your feedback

Do you use this flowchart? We welcome your feedback.

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