- Case
Institutional investigation of authorship dispute
We received a claim that several authors were removed from an article published in one of our journals before the article was submitted. None of those said to have been removed were acknowledged. The claimant requested retraction. They said the article was previously submitted to other journals, listing them as an author. They provided what they said was an earlier version of the… - Case
Institution wants to retract despite ongoing legal proceedings
The case has been with two publishers for more than a year. Journal A at publisher A published article A by author A, affiliated to institution A and institution B (in another country), and author B affiliated to institution B. Journal B at publisher B then published article B, by the same authors and affiliations. The two articles are on closely related research. Shortly after… - Case
Registration of a randomised control trial
…greatly affect the credibility of the journal? If the authors accept delayed registration (post-implementation), can the journal proceed with the next steps in the peer review process while steps are taken to register the study? … - Case
Deceased author and author delaying publication
…the deadline, over the course of a month, the production editor and production manager sent several reminder emails to both authors enquiring about the galley proofs. The handling editor was also copied in this email thread. The surviving author finally responded saying that the other author had died and that they would like to move forward with publication. The surviving author did not… - Case
Image manipulation case
A journal was contacted by a non-anonymous whistleblower pointing out problems with two figures in a published paper. The journal wrote to the authors, who provided them with films for the gels and an explanation and additional figure data for the histology image, where a mistake was made when assembling the images. The journal published an erratum and informed the whistleblower. - News
Journal management focus
…processes (e.g. editorial handling, peer review model, average and range of time to decision, ethical standards, data availability…), and the structure employed by the journal to ensure editorial independence, should all be clearly and visibly described and presented. COPE offers several resources in support of attaining these objectives. For example, • the archive of Systematic manipulation of the publishing process via paper mills: Forum discussion topic September 2020
…also handle the administration of submitting the article to journals for review and sell authorship to researchers once the article is accepted for publication. Indications that manuscripts may be produced by a paper mill are more readily detected at scale as they may be similar in layout, experimental approach and have similar images or figures. What are the issues? …- Case
Ethical status of authors’ actions?
A consultant in public health and a consultant clinical biochemist employed by a health authority submitted a paper. It sought to address the question of benzodiazepine abuse and re-sale on the black market. The authors identified the practices with the highest prescribing rates for benzodiazepines, and asked GPs to agree to request urine samples from patients with a benzodiazepine… - Case
Publisher and stakeholder with misaligned conflict of interest policies
We have recently developed and begun to put into practice a policy on collection and declaration of conflicts of interest statements from any individual involved in contributing to or reviewing our pathways. This policy includes members of our editorial team, and contributor and reviewer members from our stakeholder groups. We have devised a standard form to collect these statements in… - Case
Possible breach of reviewer confidentiality
There seems to have been some form of breach of confidentiality, but it is not clear where this has occurred. Sometimes reviewers do share papers with colleagues or students, but this is breaking confidentiality. As there is no strong evidence that a reviewer at this journal did in fact break confidentiality, the Forum cautioned about making allegations with the lack of evidence. Also, the… - Flowcharts
Addressing concerns about systematic manipulation of the publication process
…href="https://www.stm-assoc.org/stm-integrity-hub/"> STM Integrity Hub). The management of cases collectively rather than on a case-by-case basis. Transparency in retraction notices related to manipulation of the publication process. Editorial decision making based on all evidence (including circumstantial) relevant to the batch-level concerns, and empowering editors to use judgement on whether primary data or other… - Event
COPE Forum: September 2023
…dir="ltr">What should the role of ChatGPT/Large Language Models (LLMs) be in the peer review process (if any)? What might peer review look like in 3 years? What will be the biggest threat to peer review in 3 years’ time? Whether or not you attend the Forum we Facilitation and Integrity FAQ
…the matter? My issue of concern relates to a society owned journal. Is it in scope for the Facilitation and Integrity subcommittee? I am not sure if the journal is a COPE member but the journal says on the website that they follow COPE guidelines and resources. Can COPE review the case? Editorial decisions or…News feeds (RSS)
These news feeds allow you to see when new content has been added to the COPE website. You can get the latest cases, members, news & events and publication ethics blog entries as soon as they are published, without having to visit the website. Feeds are also known as RSS. There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence,…- News
A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors 2011
The short guide to ethical editing was updated in 2019. COPE Council member, Margaret Rees, has written a guide to ethical editing for new editors. Becoming an editor of a journal is an exciting but daunting task especially if you are working alone without day to day contact with… - News
Election of COPE council members January 2014
Voting for the 2 vacancies on COPE council is now open and will remain open until Friday 24 January 2014. All Full and Associate Members are entitled to vote. Please note that there is only one vote per journal title, even for journals with multiple editors. The vote should be cast by the member editor, who is usually the editor-in-chief, or otherwise by the nominated contact for the journal.… - Event
Keeping the Pool Clean: Prevention & Management of Misconduct Related Retractions
…retractions in order to provide a forum to discuss retractions and propose potential actions, interventions, and solutions. For more information and to register, please see the conference website. … - Event
STM webinar: A standard taxonomy of peer review
STM has recognised a need for identifying and standardising definitions and terminology in (open) peer review practices. A peer review taxonomy that is used across publishers will help make the peer review process for articles and journals more transparent, and enable the community to better assess and compare peer review practices between different journals. With this background, STM has set… eLearning
…href="https://publicationethics.org/become-member">become a member of COPE. Multiple modules There are ten modules to choose from, and you are free to complete them in any order. Each module includes case studies and questions so that you can review your knowledge. Some modules may also include audio or video podcasts. Certificate of completion The course does not lead to a formal qualification but you can print…