- Case
Retrospective ethical approval?
…“it is certainly not a foregone conclusion that we would have passed this study.” The internal editorial committee considered this case in particular, and the general issue of retrospective ethical approval, when the authors have simply forgotten or not thought of obtaining it. They were unanimous in deciding that retrospective ethical approval was not acceptable and that this paper must be… - Discussion documents
Handling competing interests
…a conflict of interest (COI) as a situation in which a person or organisation is involved in multiple interests, financial interest, or otherwise, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation of the individual or organisation. PLoS defines COI as anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…Preprints: continuing the conversation Preprint platforms have been common in physics and mathematics but the preprint landscape is changing rapidly with new platforms emerging across various disciplines. This raises opportunities for discussion across communities and for all those involved: preprint platforms, journals, authors, funders and institutions. COPE has facilitated…- Case
Babies needlessly subjected to a painful procedure for research
…editors wrote to the authors, asking for elucidation and learned that the samples were, indeed, taken by staff when they were collecting another routine sample. The authors added: “We took the chance and asked parents for consent in taking a little more blood . . . our ethics committee would never sanction [the invasive procedure] in normal infants just for research. ” The editors then asked for… - Case
Dispute between authors and a reviewer
A concise report on a rare disease was submitted and sent out to an internationally renowned reviewer in the field. He felt that some of the data had been obtained in his unit, and this had not been acknowledged by the authors. The authors responded that the tests had been performed in their own laboratory, but that the scans had indeed been done elsewhere. The editor suggested that perhaps… - Case
Plagiarized figure
We received a review paper and it was accepted and published on our website. We then noticed that one of the figures had been copied from a paper published in another journal. Before publication, we asked the authors if the figures were original or if they needed references, and the authors responded that they were original. After confirmation of the similarity of one figure to… - Discussion documents
Preprints
…to scout upcoming work or facilitating transfer of papers to journals, alongside the challenges such as ‘scooping’, screening, industry-wide standards and credibility of non-reviewed research. There are questions about the status of preprints in various disciplines, and the implications for submission, subsequent publication, copyright and licensing and links to peer review. - Case
Where should journals escalate serious concerns about an institution or institutional review board?
…review board directly the appropriate action? Is contacting the institution/institutional review board too "soft-touch"? Is there an ethical obligation to ensure this is escalated to a higher body? In this case, the institutional review board is not in the same country as the journal. Is there an international ethics approval body that holds ethics boards accountable? … COPE Governance
COPE was established to provide advice and guidance on best practice for dealing with ethical issues in journal publishing. Originally aimed primarily at editors and publishers of scholarly journals, membership now includes universities and research institutes, and organisations and individuals involved…- News
Guest article: Avoiding predatory publishers
…will implement the policies and practices needed to reach high standards in publication ethics. Deceptive or predatory journals charge authors but have no intention of providing the services or practices expected from a trustworthy publisher. As a result, potentially valuable research outputs are published, but cannot easily be found and are at risk of being lost. Authors that realise they… - News
Dates of future COPE meetings
2011 Monday 7 March 2011 (deadline for cases 21 February) Monday 6 June 2011 (deadline for cases 23 May) Tuesday 6 September 2011 (deadline for cases 23 August) Tuesday 6 December 2011 (deadline for cases 22 November) All Forum meetings are 3–5pm, in the Council Chamber, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 5-11 Theobalds Road,… - News
COPE's first discussion document on plagiarism published
When aspects of publication ethics are particularly fast-moving or controversial COPE cannot always provide detailed guidance. Consequently, in a new venture for COPE, we are intending to publish a series of discussion documents with the aim to stimulate discussion rather than tell editors what to do. We hope that, by raising the issues, we can contribute to the debate within the academic… - Event
Publication ethics: fraud and misconduct
This ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Training Course has been developed in collaboration with COPE. Full details can be found on the ALPSP’s website ALPSP are pleased to offer this course to all COPE members at the discounted ALPSP… - Event
2015 European Meeting of ISMPP: Medical Publications for Better Patient Care: Integrity, Innovation, and Impact
The theme of this year’s European Meeting of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP)—Medical Publications for Better Patient Care: Integrity, Innovation, and Impact—acknowledges the potential of publications to inform treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. Two days of content packed sessions in London; and if you… - News
COPE shortlisted for Publons Sentinel Award: outstanding advocacy, innovation or contribution to #PeerReview
An the winner is...Irene Hames, advocate and educator of peer review and publication ethics. Congratulations Irene, a well-deserved award for all your work in the field of peer review. Read more - Event
PSP Consulting: Editors' virtual courses 2021: Improving journal quality and impact
9-11am BST Monday 18th October and 9-11am BST Tuesday 19th October. Improving quality and impact : Peer review and editorial boards This course is presented in two, 2-hour online workshops Objectives To improve the peer review process and make good decisions To identify the best reviewing methology To manage and utilize editorial… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2017: Translating institutional integrity issues into educational initiatives across Asia-Pacific
…Research @ HKU Common research integrity issues in AsiaPacific countries … - News
All Elsevier journals become COPE members
…publishing misconduct. In addition, they will be able to use the information and educational services that COPE is developing. "We are very pleased to have the support of such a major publisher", said Dr Harvey Marcovitch, Chair of COPE. "It shows that COPE is receiving growing support among publishers" and this in turn will enable us to improve the standards of publications worldwide.… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: Authorship, contributorship, who's doing what, and what do we need?
…Does your discipline have specific authorship guidelines? Have you considered using contributorship criteria instead? Could COPE usefully provide further guidance in this area? As well as those at the meeting in London, we would like to extend the discussion to those unable to attend the meeting, by commenting here, so please do leave your…- Event
COPE Forum
Register for the July Forum The COPE Forum 4-5.30pm (BST) will be held by webinar and is open to COPE members. Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the current cases being discussed. In addition to the cases we will be holding a discussion on "Preprints: What are the issues?" Deadline to register: Friday 21 July