COPE's guidelines as a flowchart on how to respond to whistleblowers when concerns about a published article are raised directly with the publisher or the editor.
How should you respond when concerns are raised by a whistleblower about a published article directly via email to the editor or publisher? This could include anonymous or not anonymous concerns about scientific soundness or allegations of plagiarism, figure manipulation or other forms of misconduct.
Key points
- Inform the publisher and their communications team
- Respect whistleblower's preference for anonymity
Related resources
- Responding to whistleblowers when concerns are raised via social media COPE flowchart
- Dealing with concerns about the integrity of published research COPE discussion document
About this resource
Cite this as
COPE Council. COPE Flowcharts and infographics — Responding to whistleblowers when concerns are raised directly — English.
https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.2.25
©2021 Committee on Publication Ethics (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
https://publicationethics.org
Version history
Version 1: November 2015. Redesigned May 2021.
Full page history
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28 June 2023
Redesigned flowchart published, updated citation information.
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11 February 2021
Sabah title
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9 November 2020
Text correction