- Case
Rescind a decision post-acceptance prior to publication
…saying people will try to pay us to shut down the paper before it is published. This has added an extra layer of concern to how the situation is handled. We think we should take the following steps: Contact the author to explain the manuscript requires further peer review. Send the manuscript for two further sets of peer review comments. Provide the author with the new set of… - Case
Citing a retracted paper
…one might quite reasonably want to cite some key retracted papers to illustrate the issues involved. However, it is very important to mark the paper as retracted in the reference section so this is clearly marked for readers (eg, Author AB, et al. RETRACTED: Title of article. Journal name. 2015, 100: 1-7.) … - 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 (“ Seminars
…22kB] Poster: Fraud and deceit in medical research Download [PDF 22kB] Poster: Authors’ awareness of publication ethics: An international survey- 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… Resources and further reading
…inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" title="Journal of Medical Ethics"> J Med Ethics 2011;37:567-570 doi:10.1136/jme.2010.040964http…- 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… - Seminars and webinars
Artificial intelligence and peer review
…to improve language, AI can reduce the risk of mis-evaluation of scholarly research and bring great benefits to the community. Back to top Further reading A survey of large language models Weixin Lang et al - 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… - Case
Conflicts of interest between authors and editors
…should declare this and not participate in the peer reviewer assignment or any editorial decisions, and a note should ideally be added in the paper about the independence of the peer review process. If the editor were already an editor in the previous articles and took part in their review process, their peer review has been compromised. A post-publication peer review would be needed with an… - Guidelines
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
…from among the community of libraries and other academic disciplines to assist in the curation of open access journals. This independent database contains over 18,100 journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities in English and 80 other languages. DOAJ is financially supported worldwide by libraries, publishers, and other like-minded organisations.… - 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
A lost author and a new hypothesis
A paper was published in January 1998,and seven authors were credited. B was thanked for his contribution in the acknowledgements section. One year later B wrote to the editor, outlining two alleged incidents related to this paper. First, the cohort reported in the January 1998 paper was one that B had been working on since the early 1990s. In 1992–3 he sought collaboration with another researc…