- Case
Confidentiality and privacy issue
…confidentiality/privacy. No IRB was obtained (case series/QI project). No consent was available from individual patients. COPE’s advice would be appreciated.… - Case
Suspected plagiarism
…flow of the article and the subheadings and the text is too similar.It was pointed out to me by my associate editor.There have been no complains yet but does that mean one should not investigate?Is the editor entitled to conduct investigations without complaints.Can plagiarism detection software be applied retrospectively?What action can be taken if only ideas are copied in the same sequence though… - Case
Competing interest issue
…the journal website, the evaluator was not listed as an author on the article but featured as an author on the side-bar search tool. When the editor looked for the commentary in the HTML version, it could not be found. Only when the editor looked at the full text PDF version could the commentary then be read, where it was included on the last page of the article. Essentially, the article and… - Case
A systematic review on a country’s health problem written by non-native authors
…not include primary data collection and analyses. Questions for COPE Council Are there ethical issues that the journal should be aware of? Could the non-inclusion of authors from the country under study be a firm ground for rejection? … - Case
Ethics, institutional review and studies from private practice
A manuscript was submitted to our journal regarding a chart review of a novel treatment of a musculoskeletal disease, done at a private clinic in a western country. The patients had given informed consent for the novel treatment, but there was no ethical approval. We contacted the authors, who have replied that ethics approval could not be obtained, and indeed was not needed, because… - Case
Revoked parental consent
…before the issue was to be folioed, the parents contacted the authors and revoked consent. The journal was able to pull the article prior to publication. The editorial board is concerned about this happening again and what the course of action would be if consent is withdrawn from a case that has already been published. Question(s) for the COPE Forum• Once written consent is… - Case
Removal of an author
A paper was submitted to a journal with authors A, B, C, D and E. The paper was peer reviewed. Before acceptance, the corresponding author asked for a new author, author F, to be added, and an existing author, author C, to be removed. The editorial office asked all of the authors (authors A, B, C, D, E and F) to complete a change of authorship request form and for the corresponding… - Case
Temporary exception to double anonymised review policy
…still be submitted as revisions. The editorial team is now debating whether it is ethical to send revisions of the manuscripts to reviewers we should assume know the identity of the corresponding author. Finding new reviewers familiar with the subject area will delay the process. New reviewers may make additional requests of the authors, adding to their burden and further delaying the process. We… - News
Peer review week 2022: webinars
As part of Peer Review Week 2022, COPE hosted the webinar Practical steps for managing paper mills. The speakers give practical tips on how to manage systematic manipulation of the publication process, at scale, and describe their experience of dealing with paper mills affecting their journals, - News
In the news: July Digest
…="_blank">https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/ugc-move-to-thwart-pay-and-publish-trash-culture/story-AP0BFFrbNuL1mN5WNbgCjI.html Peer review An experiment on peer review conducted by researchers at Harvard Business School, found that almost 50% of reviewers of medical funding applications changed their own ratings… - Case
Russian scientific misconduct
A letter was sent to an editor, claiming that scientific misconduct had taken place in Russia. The editor did not want to ignore the issue, which was not related to submitted papers and could not be published as a letter. But s/he was unsure what action to take.… - Case
Image manipulation as a general practice
…community. It rather seems to us that many laboratories consider photographs as illustrations that can be manipulated, and not as original data. Thus gels are often cleaned of impurities, bands are cut out and photographs of plant material only serve to show what the authors want to demonstrate, and the material does not necessarily originate from the experiment in question. When the editor-in-chief… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…template would meet the pre-requisites for the COPE retraction guidelines[3] using very simple tick boxes: who is retracting the article, the reason for the retraction and history of errata/ expressions of concern. Then, a free text box would allow the editor to add any information they consider useful. A copy of the form can be- Case
Dispute between authors and a reviewer
…by writing directly to the authors, and asked for extensive changes to be made to the manuscript. The authors complained that the reviewer had abused his position by requesting such extensive changes. Both of the subsequent reviewers thought the study was sound. They were unaware of its history.… - Case
Triplicate publication with possibly different data in each
It was noted that specialist journal editors are in a more difficult position as they are part of the “community.” Write to the authors submitting copies of all three papers, asking for an explanation. Write to the heads of the institutions,submitting copies of the papers,plus the correspondence and ask for an investigation to be conducted. … FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…authors • there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case • they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive • an investigation is underway but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time COPE…- Event
EASE virtual conference: Editors and editing in a time of crisis
…will be asking what have we learned, and what lessons can we take away to help us in the future? The programme has been developed to be as interactive as possible, so that experiences of editors can be shared, and the views of members exchanged.… - Webform
COPE authorship workshop 10 February 2021
…REGISTRATION FOR THIS WORKSHOP IS CLOSED Online cases workshop for COPE members Wednesday 10 February 2021 15:00-16.30pm (GMT); 10.00-11.30am (EST) The authorship workshop is free for COPE members but spaces are limited to the first 50 applicants. Only those registered will be… - Webform
COPE authorship workshop 24 February 2021
…Online cases workshop for COPE members Wednesday 24 February 2021 9:00-10.30am (GMT); 17.00-18.30pm (AWST); 20.00-21.30pm (AEDT) The authorship workshop is free for COPE members but spaces are limited to the first 50 applicants. Only those registered will be able to attend the workshop. You will… - Case
Balancing anonymisation and open science during peer-review
As an editor of a journal with a double-anonymous peer review system, I often wonder about the right balance between open science practices and anonymisation of the manuscript for the review process. How much anonymisation is enough while being compatible with open science dissemination? In particular, when a manuscript includes information about the protocol registration and raw data,…