- Case
Duplicate publication and removal of article
…article is currently only available in journal A. Hence the only way of having transparency around this case is for a formal note to be added to journal A. It is essential that the formal note is a form that can be indexed and is citable. It could be an addendum, if that is linked to the article or an expression of concern. The Forum also noted that the authors should be made aware that… - Case
Reviewer concerns about transparency of peer review process
…accused the editors of behaving in a non-transparent manner and even of being unethical, because: (1) we did not publish the content of the critical peer review and (2) we did not have a disclaimer on the text stating that reviewers were not responsible for the content of the published manuscript (which we had assumed was obvious). We have thus begun the process of adding the following disclaimer… - Case
When to conclude correspondence from reader about errors in a published article
…exchange of correspondence should take place privately between Dr A and the authors.2. The journal added the following statement to their editorial policy on items of correspondence: “Only one letter may be submitted by any single author or group of authors on any one published paper”.… - Case
Self-plagiarism and suspected salami publishing
…the board found that this case did meet its definition, based on the excessive volume of verbatim sentences shared between the two articles. In the light of this development, a note was added on the front page of the article to this effect. The editor also notified journal B of their decision. The editor considers the case closed. … - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum: 13 November 2017: Self-Citation: where's the line?
…“appropriate” vs. “excessive”? Are there, or should there be rules about changing reference lists during revision, in particular in adding more self-citations if not specifically requested by the editors/reviewers? References - Case
Author displays bullying behaviour towards handling editor
A handling editor rejected a paper without review, after consulting with a senior editor. The corresponding author sent an appeal about 2 weeks later where he requested that the paper be given a second chance and be sent for peer review. He added that, in case of a new decision to reject without review, the editor should provide a detailed response to a number of questions and comments raised… - Case
Ethics approval and consent
…The onus is on the whistleblower to provide sufficient evidence to warrant a retraction. The editor could have the articles in question reviewed by experts in the field to determine the added value of the papers to the literature before moving forward with any further action.… - Seminars and webinars
Publication misconduct tools
…with checks by human experts. The tool is used mainly in the life sciences at the moment, but more image types are being added to its portfolio. Integrity checks on manuscripts Othman Altalib, Chief Growth Officer at Morressier, introduced the Integrity Manager which combines a growing list of preflight and integrity checks on manuscripts, with flexibility for editorial teams to apply… - Case
Alleged unauthorized use of data and possible dual publication
…Since the reviewer’s evaluation of the method did not contain any concrete arguments, the senior author assumed that the reviewer was referring to a polemic about the method by another author, published in the same journal in which the senior author countered these arguments. The method continues to be the most widely used, cited over 90 times (the associate editor points out that it was cited mainly… Presentations
…Responsible? Download PDF (88 kb) Presented by Jeremy Theobald At the US National Academy of Sciences and PNAS E-Journal Summit Washington, DC, USA 18 March 2008 2007 Dual use: editorial freedom and how editors will COPE Download PDF (660 kb)…FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…="_blank">https://peerj.com/about/preprints/policies-and-procedures/#retraction-policy Preprints.org https://www.preprints.org/instructions_for_authors#withdrawal This will be discussed at the start of the next COPE Forum on Monday 24 July 2017. Please do leave any comments below, whether or not you are planning on joining the meeting Comments are reviewed and, on approval, added…- Case
Possible plagiarism and fabrication
…from another country. The authors had changed the number of patients, the type of surgery, the regimen of drug A, and they had added a fourth group (drug C). However, the author of the first paper identified similarities between the two publications. After having read both papers very carefully the editor came to the following conclusions: 1. Most of the second paper uses literally identical… - Case
An author thinks that a journal’s decision not to publish is ethically incorrect
…already known to the public through no fault of the author. The author had also added a handwritten addendum, stating s/he accepted the agreement “to the extent that my academic freedom to report findings of scientific and public health importance is not compromised.” On peer review the science of the paper was judged to be sound. The journal’s legal advisor had some concerns about publication; legal… - Case
Dispute among authors
…all the members of the team and make a decision about submission of the data based on the majority opinion. The majority (95%) of members provided support; of those who did not, X was one. The journal sent the manuscript out for external peer review, and wrote to the corresponding author to invite a revised manuscript, adding that the journal could not proceed to publication unless the authorship… - Case
Publication of papers from industry sponsored symposium
Our scientific/medical Society added a Special Symposium to its Annual Meeting Program. The symposium organiser, who is an academic member of the Society, invited seven speakers, all from academic institutions, in addition to himself to speak at the symposium. Support for the symposium as a whole was solicited independently by the Development Committee of the Society and had no influence on… - Case
Stolen article
…inadvertently leaked by an unnamed medical company they work with. We told the authors of article A that in future they must declare the role of any company in their research and consider if this may be a conflict of interests. They said their article was previously submitted 4 years ago to another publisher of journal C, who rejected it. We confirmed this with the publisher, who added that their… - Case
Authorship dispute involving a commercial institution
…Unfortunately, the main institution where the research took place is a commercial laboratory, and the last author of the manuscript is the chief executive officer of this business. The last author has been clear that they do not agree to adding the complainants as authors. In fact, they have stated that they are going to sue the complainants for their allegations. The journal has reached out to… - 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… - Case
Boundaries of duplicate submission
…'Reject with resubmission allowed'. It would be preferable to use 'Revise' if a journal is willing to see a revised paper and 'Reject' if they are not. Also, if the journal does not want this type of behaviour, this should be added to the journal guidelines and instructions to authors.… - Case
Should we allow pseudonymous authorship?
…a statement saying that the author’s views are not connected to their employer is what we would need to do. Authors being in dispute with their employer or wanting to distance themselves from their employer, privacy concerns, or controversial content would not be considered acceptable reasons for using a pseudonym. The editor suggested to the authors that a statement be added to the article saying…