- Case
Request to remove an author post-publication
A paper was submitted to a journal by authors A and B. The paper was accepted and then published in the journal. Several months after final publication, author A contacted the journal asking for their name and their biography to be removed from the article. Author A stated that they wished to distance themselves from the research. Author B also contacted the journal separately to… New UK Panel for Research Integrity
…responded, 40% of whom reported instances of research misconduct within the previous five years. And 44% of them reported allegations in the area of health and biomedical sciences. This confirmed this initial thinking that this was the area of greatest need. There has been some debate in UUK as to whether the areas should be broader, but we need to start with the…Job vacancy: COPE content writer
…engagement, and experience in writing content for scholarly journals would be highly advantageous. This position requires a high level of creativity, writing for an international audience, as well as the ability to use data driven insights to write focussed material applicable to either our whole membership or targeted groups. All content may be edited and will require final approval by a member of COPE…- Case
Reviewer citation manipulation
…citation data by asking authors to cite a number of the reviewer’s own papers. Questions for the Forum Should the referee’s report be discarded? Should the referee be notified that the editor is aware of this citation manipulation? Should it be reported to the publisher? … - Case
Author withdraws manuscript upon payment request
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. The solution is likely to be twofold: (1) make sure the… - Case
Data availability for vulnerable populations
…populations and an increasing pressure to protect those participants in research. The publisher is keen to do everything it can to protect vulnerable populations, and would therefore benefit greatly from COPE’s advice on the following three questions. Questions for the Forum Do you recommend that data deposition be discouraged for studies on vulnerable populations? Is… - News
COPE officers change
Jeremy Theobald has stepped down as COPE Treasurer. We thank Jeremy for all his contributions to COPE over several years - in particular in developing this website as well as his work as Treasurer and in developing COPE's membership and financial stability. Until formal elections can be held (at the next AGM in March 2010), Richard O'Hagan has agreed to take over Jeremy's role and will be… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Reducing the inadvertent spread of retracted science: taxonomy considerations
…retracted science and what we can do about it Jodi Schneider is PI of Reducing the Inadvertent Spread of Retracted… - Case
Call for retraction of a commentary
A journal received two emails from different individuals, both critical of a commentary published in the journal. One cited serious errors, the other noted inaccurate statements, incorrect literature citations and fundamental flaws regarding misinterpretations or over-interpretations which could affect public health. The second email also cited the potential for the commentary to be used for… - Case
Authorship dispute regarding author order
A paper was accepted in 2012 but there was a lengthy disagreement between the four authors regarding the order of authorship. The authors were advised that the paper would not be published unless all authors could sign a written agreement on the order of authorship and copyright form. An agreement was received in 2015 that specified the order of authorship and named one of the authors… - Case
No ethics approval or informed consent?
A thesis published by a student was submitted by his guide for publication. One of the journal editors found the research unethical and asked for confirmation of ethics committee approval. The editor received a verbal commitment that the approval had been given prior to the research being started and the approval letter would be submitted in due course. However, on further investigation by the… - Case
Definition of plagiarism?
…that this is not an isolated incident, the editor has been advised to contact the institute with details of this specific allegation. However, we were interested to note that advice from our legal department clearly stated that plagiarism could only be proven if the alleged plagiarism was word-for-word the same as the original text, with the implication that as the text was in a different… - Case
Possible conflict of interest
Our journal is attempting to encourage the adoption of a uniform standard for the reporting of population genetics data. As part of this, one of the editors of our journal has submitted a proposal requiring authors to submit their data, including raw data, to his own database. While the intention is laudable, there would appear to be a clear conflict of interest. What can a journal do… - News
Appointment of COPE Ombudsman
…if two or more members cannot agree on how to handle a complaint involving both their publications. Although it is impossible to predict future workload, we are happy to note that COPE has only required the Ombudsman to consider 2 cases over the last 6 years (although one case was very protracted). (Earlier reports from the retiring Ombudsman may be viewed - Case
Author requests permission to publish review comments
…reviews and a commentary on the issues raised, prior to submission to a journal with open peer review. The author requested the journal’s consent for the review comments to be made public under CC licence. We declined permission to publish the reviews and explained that the journal operates a confidential single blind review process. Reviewers are informed that their names will not be revealed to… - Case
Not getting consent from an ethics committee
…· Agreement that this was a blatant experiment on children. · The parents had given permission for the administration of the diet but had been informed that this was a trial, which was felt to be sloppy conduct rather than intentional avoidance of ethical approval. - Seminars and webinars
Artificial intelligence and peer review
…href="https://publicationethics.org/registration-cope-seminar-2021">REGISTER --> Back to top Using AI in peer review The speakers begin by talking about what functions AI is best suited to as a peer review tool. It is unlikely that any current AI can reliably carry out a well-substantiated review, and we should be thinking instead about utilising it as a tool to improve human-authored reports, and to carry out triage tasks. More… - Case
Lack of acknowledgement of contributor
Our case relates to a paper (by author’s A and B) that was retracted because of lack of acknowledgement of the contribution of another author (C). The retraction statement noted: “While the A/B paper is largely the work of A and B, it includes some sentences and ideas that previously appeared in an unpublished paper and/or Power Point presentation only with A and C listed as authors. We regret… - Case
Query regarding a retraction
A journal published a paper. Some months later, the author asked if they could change the contents of the paper. The Editor in Chief had some concerns with respect to some of the results and could not come to an agreement with the author. The author then requested withdrawal of this paper and asked that it be removed from the database. The author also accused the journal of being unethical. - Case
Enquiry regarding copyright/retractions
…or updated) but that Editors/Publishers are not in agreement as to whether this is appropriate or how this should be approached. Aside from making a judgement on whether the submission is ‘redundant’ to the record, the journal’s main concern is that, if they consider the paper, they should avoid breaching the copyright/publishing agreement made between the other publisher and the…