- News
Diversity in Peer Review: Survey Results
…organisers/panels • Kinds of diversity that are important in peer review: Area of expertise (88%) Gender (77%) Race/ethnicity (74%) Age (66%) Other (21%), including location/nationality, organisation/institution type, career… - News
Case discussion: self-plagiarism and suspected salami publishing
…a published manuscript and asked the authors for an explanation. The editorial board concluded that this case did not represent redundant or salami publication, but did satisfy its criteria for text recycling. A relevant note was added to paper A and journal B was informed. Case Discussion This archived COPE Forum case is categorised under two COPE Core Practices,… - News
Case discussion: repeated complaints about a review
…overturned by new research thanks to technological or methodological advancements. Furthermore, data or findings from new research should not normally be added post-publication as a correction to update a paper; a new research paper should be prepared. Nevertheless, some journals do allow authors to publish meta-analysis update articles and online continually updated (“ - Case
Allegations of scientific fraud and unethical conduct of experiments with attempts to silence the whistleblower
…The allegations of fraud A paper reported a radioisotope test for diagnosis of a speci?c,acute,neurological disease with 100% accuracy. Replication studies failed to con?rm the ?ndings and suggested that the test is positive in a… - Case
Possible fabricated data: a conspiracy of silence?
This complicated case provoked much discussion. The advice was to reinstate the review but without the three disputed papers, adding a note to say that there is a potential problem with these three papers. It was felt that if the data are fabricated, there was a responsibility on the part of the editor not to publish the data as there might be a significant risk to patients if the trial was… - Case
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…/06/22/tortuous-and-torturous-why-publishing-a-critical-letter-to-the-editor-is-so-difficult/">this discussion at Retraction Watch). An intermediate solution might be to consider adding a note indicating that the articles were retracted and why. The journal could then ask the authors of the letters to adapt what they have written with this in mind and focus on what else they might want to… - Forum discussion topics
Ethical considerations around book publishing
…(members and non-members) can comment on this discussion. Comments are reviewed and, on approval, added below.… - Forum discussion topics
Claiming institutional affiliations
…affiliations Khaled Moustafa, Arabixiv Papers A summary of the discussion at the virtual Forum event will be added to this page shortly. Page updated: 12 December 2023 We welcome comments on… - Seminars and webinars
Webinar 2021: Diversity, equity and inclusion
…published paper? In this single-response question, the majority of the audience (73%) had not encountered any situations of offensive material. However, in those that had, 85% of experiences resulted in retractions, suggesting that whenever issues are raised, the concerns are legitimate enough to require intervention. Yes several times – 7 Yes once – 16 No, it came… - Case
Paper submitted for publication without consent or knowledge of co-authors
…editor-in-chief of journal A with a request to retract the published article claiming the following:• Co-author A claims that this paper was submitted to journal A by CA during her absence (maternity leave).• Co-author A claims that she and the other 7 co-authors (authors B, C, D, E, F, G and H) were not informed about the publication in journal A by CA.• Co-author A claims that 90% of the… History of COPE
…unnecessary because the international profession produces an adequate response to research misconduct”. By 2000, COPE had over 90 members, a constitution was drafted, and Mike Farthing was elected Chair. 2003 to 2006 - a code of conduct for editors, and authorship guidelines Fiona Godlee became Chair of COPE in 2004. The Code of Conduct for Editors was launched and…- Forum discussion topics
Artificial intelligence (AI) and fake papers
…publication. Learned Publishing. 2023; 36: 73-80. Doi:10.1002/leap.1533 AI in decision making, COPE discussion document Trustworthy AI for the future of publishing, COPE Seminar… - News
In the news: March Digest
…retractions of their own work, as well as adding a section describing study limitations to all published articles. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/leap.1282 COPE Council Member Rachel Safer… - Case
Authorship issue
…now left the institution). Dr A held the IRB. Dr A had instructed Dr C not to publish until the mother paper was completed. Dr C was asked by the editors to comment on these points, and he responded by saying that: the intellectual contribution from Drs A and B was minimal; he (Dr C) had added the relevant addendum to the IRB myself; Drs A and B had threatened to ruin his career if he did… - Case
Author requests for certain experts not to be included in the editorial process
…a policy for handling requests to exclude individuals from the journal’s editorial process. The following has been added to the journal’s editorial policy: “We reserve the right to send manuscripts to the reviewers of our choice”. The editor considers the case closed. Related resource Spanish version: - Case
Professional misconduct of one author
…a valid reason for issuing a correction to the literature. Moreover, if ICMJE authorship criteria are being used, the reason for removal of an author needs to be added; it must be an academic reason; and all authors would have to agree and sign off in… - News
Artificial intelligence: Lightning talk summary
…The checks carried out by AI are done at various stages: as part of initial verifications, as peer review is initiated, and as it continues. Sometimes flags are raised late in the process, for example, if new data have been added to the training bank after the article went into the process. Deciding when to run checks is a complicated process, especially when a manuscript is also changing as it… - News
Case discussion: gift authorship
…authorship came from further study of 81 of the hyperprolific authors. Of the 27 authors who completed a survey, 19 admitted failing to meet one of the four ICMJE authorship criteria in more than a quarter of their papers and 11 admitted failing to meet two or more… - News
Case discussion: critiques after publication
…can be contacted and an expression of concern added in the interim. If the author remains uncooperative, the editor is bound to retract the paper for the sake of not misleading readers, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders. The retraction notice should transparently explain what post-publication review procedures were followed and what happened. As an additional… - 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…