- News
New members: November 2019-April 2020
…Science Journal of Hospital Medicine Publishers Atlantis Press (11 member journals) Association of Computing… - Event
COPE Forum: July 2023
…href="https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nHIFv3ekTLa_Uh9adf0ELg#/registration">REGISTER TODAY Forum agenda On Tuesday 11 July 2023 the COPE Forum… - Case
Publication of private data
An article was submitted for publication. This was a survey of research activity in a specialist area and included, among other things, research funding amounts from each institution. This led to a sort of 'league table'. The information was provided by the responding director of the specialty area or head of school/research group of each institution. The cover letter stated this is for researc… - Event
COPE Forum: December 2023
…Forum is: Tuesday 21 November 2023. --> Forum agenda On Tuesday 5 December 2023 the COPE Forum will be held at 10:00-11:30 (GMT / UTC) 1. Update on COPE activities Update on COPE activities by the Chair. 2. Forum discussion topic: Claiming affiliations We begin the COPE Forum with a discussion on How COPE will respond to a media enquiry
…representing editors, publishers, universities, and research institutes, from various academic disciplines. Page updated: 19 January 2023…- Case
Dual submission
While reviewing revised manuscripts, the editor of Journal A happened across two manuscripts that looked remarkably similar. One was on the point of acceptance, pending revision of a table; one had just been revised by the authors. The two papers were from the same institution, apparently on the same population of exposed workers, with the same measurements, and with closely related conclusions… - Case
Provenance of a correction: undisclosed court case involvement
The first author of a paper published in 2004 has submitted a “letter to the editor” (LTTE) offering some corrections, and reaffirming some conclusions. The letter has not been published. A pharma company (whose drug is linked by the paper to a negative side effect) has followed this up claiming that between authoring the original article and the letter, the author has become a paid expert witn… - Case
Suspected plagiarism
A single author submitted a paper to our journal. A similarity check revealed 48% similarity with another published paper. The published paper was by different authors—5 in total. The similarities between the papers were in the introduction, methods and discussion sections. The submitting author did not reference the published article. We queried the corresponding author but have not rec… - Case
Reproducibility of methodology
A whistle blower contacted journal A regarding two published articles. The articles focus on the effect of energy healing on an in-vitro model of disease. The whistle blower raised concerns about the appropriateness and reproducibility of the energy healing methodology used. The authors were contacted to provide an explanation of the methodology as there was a lack of clarity in… - Case
Handling an undisclosed conflict of interest which is attracting controversy
In summer 2023, an author informed the journal that they had unintentionally neglected to declare a conflict of interest on all of the five articles that they had published in the journal between 2019 and 2022. They had been made aware of this on social media, in the context of a widespread movement to discredit members of an emerging healthcare profession that they represent. They stated that… - Case
Ethical approval and fabrication of results
… A new intervention would require ethics committee approval. It seems very odd not to have included the other 35 patients. A real retrospective study does not require ethical approval From whom do authors in private practice obtain ethics approval? With no institution involved is it very difficult to take action. … - Research
CrossCheck guidance: an analysis of typical cases of plagiarism in different disciplines 2010
Most plagiarism cannot be judged solely by the similarities discovered when using CrossCheck. Based on experience of cross checking more than 2000 manuscripts from approximately 50 countries in different parts of the world per year, this project aims to provide 3-5 typical cases of cross checked plagiarism in three different disciplines covered by the Journal of Zhejjiang University-SCIENCE… - Case
Should a journal disclose peer reviewer names?
A journal received a manuscript in July concerning the conditions surrounding the ending of an individual’s contract of employment. Following peer review and revision, the manuscript was accepted and published in October of the same year. Two years later, the journal received a letter from a lawyer representing a client who was suing the former employer discussed in the article. The author of t… - Case
The tortuous tale of a paper, a letter and an editorial
Dr A submitted an article to journal X that was published in 1996. Dr B wrote to the editor in January 1997, pointing out an error by Dr A. Shortly afterwards, Dr B submitted a longer editorial to the journal discussing the issue raised by this error in a much wider context. Dr B then withdrew the article and submitted it to journal Y at the end of March, with a covering letter in which he wrot… - Case
Non-compliance of author with request for information
In April 2007, an original scientific article was published on line (ahead of print—it is now published in print, September 2007). In July 2007, the editors received the following request from a scientist who read this article: "Since I am interested in this subject and I already work with it, I need to know some technical information from the authors. I have called the group five times and wro… - Case
Deceased author
After a manuscript was accepted, an author passed away before they could complete the conflict of interest statement and copyright transfer documents. The publishing company requires that all authors complete these documents prior to publishing. The other authors do not want to remove the deceased author from the manuscript. Question(s) for the COPE Forum Who… - 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 e… - Case
Seeking retrospective ethics approval
I received a submission that had asked a series of questions of visitors to a website about a mental health issue. It was reviewed by a senior colleague and myself. While the science was fine we were both concerned that no mention had been made of any ethics approval. I raised this issue with the authors, especially given that deception was involved. The authors then appear to have sough… - Case
Unable to contact authors
A manuscript was submitted to a journal and after the review and revision process, the submitted manuscript was accepted for publication. During the manuscript revision process, the corresponding author was in contact with the journal: answered all of the emails, performed revisions of the manuscript, prepared answers to the comments of the reviewers, etc. When the manuscript was accepte…