- 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.) … - Event
COPE Forum: September 2022
…cases. Submit a case to COPE Forum Do you have a publication ethics case you'd like to bring to the COPE Forum for discussion and advice? Submit a case The deadline to submit a case for this Forum is: Tuesday 13 September 2022. Forum agenda On 27 September 2022 the COPE Forum will be held at 16:00-17:30pm (BST… - Case
Not getting consent from an ethics committee
We had provisionally accepted a randomised controlled trial of an exclusion diet given to young children with a particular condition. The trial design was that one group started the exclusion diet a month before the second group. In other words, both were given the “treatment.” One part of the trial was that children who were thought to have an allergy to a particular food were rechallenged wit… - Case
Dual submission
Journal A received a paper that was rejected without peer review as it was very poorly written. There was no clear evidence of original work, it seemed to be mainly a vehicle for advertising a piece of equipment/technique developed by the authors, and it was only marginally relevant to the journal’s area of interest. A month later, the first author of the paper submitted the same paper to Journ… - Case
Ethics approval for audit 3
In this case, an international organisation wished to study the use of various regimens for medical termination of pregnancy in a developing world setting where termination of pregnancy is not supported by the state. They have performed an audit and have obtained data which will be of considerable value in other similar settings around the world. However, they are not willing to state the ident… - News
In the news: October 2018 Digest
…available here (https://bookbook.pubpub.org/oki)http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/09/17/in-a-globalised… - Case
Anonymous peer review – author requesting manuscript file
Two manuscripts were submitted, reviewed as sister manuscripts by the journal, and rejected on the basis of negative reviews. The author took issue with one particularly negative review and appealed our decision. We sought the advice of an editorial board member who reviewed the manuscripts and the reports and agreed that the correct editorial decision was made.… - Case
Is it plagiarism to use text verbatim from a manuscript review?
A commentary was reviewed by journal A and rejected. The paper was then submitted and accepted at journal B. Journal B published the commentary. After publication, a reviewer from journal A wrote to journal B with a complaint of plagiarism. Text from his/her review was used in the commentary published in journal B Question(s) for the COPE Forum• How should the editor of jo… - Case
Withdrawal request by an author
We received a request by an author who states not to have contributed to an article published in 2015. The author claims that his name was used without his knowledge and that the corresponding author has been retired for several years and can no longer be reached. At the time of submission, we received a copyright transfer signed with the author’s name (we request all authors to sign the form).… - Case
Ethics of non-active management of a control group
An article was submitted involving over 200 pregnant patients with a systemic illness (from 2010 to 2015) who were recruited and assigned to a control group or an active intervention group (of their systemic illness). The control group received routine antenatal care while the intervention group had active surveillance and management of their systemic illness during the pregnancy. There… - News
In the news: January 2019 Digest
…and Gifu University- suggests that it is.http://retractionwatch.com/2018/12/17/is-it-time-for-a-new-classification-system-for-scientific-misconduct Conflicts of Interest A joint analysis by the New York Times and ProPublica has reported that… - Event
6th World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI), Hong Kong, 2019
…and Edanz Group, Fukuoka 15:45 – 17:15 Symposium (SY3) Preprints: Beneficial or harmful for research integrity and publication ethics? A debate (Grand Hall) Sabine Kleinert, The Lancet and Chris Graf, COPE Past co-Chair (Conveners) John Inglis, bioRxiv; and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York Heather Tierney, COPE Council; and American Chemical… - Event
COPE Forum: December 2022
…="https://publicationethics.org/case/temporary-exception-double-anonymous-review-policy">Temporary exception to double anonymised review policy 22-17 Open discussion Using guest editors for single article submissions 4. Updates to cases Members who have previously brought cases to the COPE Forum update us on their progress. 22-05 - Case
Anonymity versus author transparency
An editor invited an author to submit a paper to his journal. Colleagues of the author suggested “unsubmission” because it could be damaging to the author’s career. The editor contacted the publisher and requested that the paper be withdrawn. The editor then contacted the author asking if he would consider publishing the paper anonymously (ie, with no identifying names). The editor did not cons… - Case
A systematic review on a country’s health problem written by non-native authors
Journal A received a submission which focused on a systematic review/meta-analysis of a health problem in a specific country. It was written by four authors who do not live in that country. In addition, none of the authors seem to have any professional affiliation with any institution or researchers in that country. The systematic review/meta-analysis was based on published references and did n… - News
In the news: August 2021
…href="https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/about/awards/" target="_blank">award has gone to CRediT, a high-level taxonomy that includes 14 roles that can be used to represent the roles typically played by contributors to scholarly output. A name change policy has been launched by the17 US national laboratories and 17 publishing organisations and services. "The partnership between the national laboratories, major scientific publishers,… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: November 2018
…China. Adrian Ziderman has been re-elected for a second term to COPE Council. We welcome them all as we move into the next year. Read November Digest: Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections COPE co-Chair - Case
Dual submission, salami slicing, redundant publication, or all three?
Editor A wrote to editor B, indicating that one of the reviewers of a paper submitted to Journal A contained material that had been submitted at about the same time to Journal B. Editor A requested a copy of the paper submitted to Journal B. Editor B responded, confirming that the paper in question had been submitted to Journal B (submission date two weeks earlier than the paper submitted to Jo… - Case
Author accused of stealing research and publishing under their name
We received a letter from a third party, accusing author A of putting his/her name against an article, published in our journal, when the research itself belongs to author A's student. Our journal is a fully English language publication and the accusing third party and author A are from a non-English speaking country, as is the student (assumedly). The accusing third party forwarded the… - Case
Withdrawing from authorship
A journal published a paper that is now under investigation by the host institution for misconduct. All authors signed that they agreed authorship and took responsibility for the content of the paper. After the investigations started, an author asked to be removed from authorship. Questions for the COPE Forum• What should the journal do in this situation? • Should th…