- Case
Publishing corrections for articles in inactive journals
…from the same publisher. Any changes must therefore be made manually and may not get updated in PubMed Central. Questions for the Forum: Should the corrective measures be published under the original journal title (updating the table of contents for the last issue) or in the new journal which took in the older journal and its published content? Is it acceptable… - Case
Authorship dispute over image
…journal would appear to be putting itself in a very vulnerable position by publishing the image. If the image was from research previously done jointly with the article author, this may be an authorship dispute about data ownership as well as a difference in data interpretation. If this is the case, the institution/s may need to be involved. If the letter is based only on an… - Case
Should we have had author consent for a randomised controlled trial of a peer review?
…Conclusion A notice should be added to the Instructions to Authors, to the effect that from time to time their papers may be used in trials of peer review and that this may slightly delay the processing time. In addition, the letter acknowledging receipt of the article might also contain notice (but with a light touch). In both cases, the authors can be given the opportunity to opt out.… How COPE will respond to a media enquiry
…Tips for journalists and press officers Provide as much detail as possible regarding the item or issue. Indicate if you wish to speak to someone or whether a response by email is acceptable. Contact us as far in advance as possible. All Officers, Trustees and Council Members are volunteers and located globally, so employment commitments or time zones may mean…- News
Revised and updated: A short guide to ethical editing for new editors
COPE's A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors has been fully revised and updated. The guide aims to summarise key issues and provide advice and resources for new editors. The revised guide can be found here.… - News
Ethical editing - Summer 2010 issue
Download the Summer issue of Ethical Editing, the newsletter from COPE (http://publicationethics.org/newsletters). This issue's theme is Plagiarism, following on from our recent annual seminar. We would very much welcome any feedback or comments you may have.… - News
Complaints and Appeals focus
…common and straight forward, others less so. Complaints may arise over the conduct of editors and/or peer reviewers; for example, breaches of confidentiality, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or misuse of privileged information obtained during peer review. Or they may arise from disputes about substantive decisions: disagreements over retractions and expressions of concern and also how they… - Case
Potential figure manipulation with corresponding author uncontactable
The Forum advised that as there is no true confirmation of the evidence that the figure was manipulated, a retraction does not seem to be warranted without further investigation. A suggestion was to contact the journal of the previous publication, as there may be an issue of duplicate publication or copyright issues related to the figure. The editors can then discuss together how to deal with… - Discussion documents
Best practice in theses publishing. March 2017
Introduction Traditionally, theses for higher degrees were published by universities in hard copy only. Now increasingly, these are also archived and may be made freely available via university repositories. They may or may not have associated licenses such as those from Creative Commons which also allow reuse. Questions have arisen at COPE forums and other… Systematic manipulation of the publishing process via paper mills: Forum discussion topic September 2020
…the publication process are being seen. The production of fraudulent papers at scale via alleged ‘paper mills’ is one such manipulation. Paper mills are profit oriented, unofficial and potentially illegal organisations that produce and sell fraudulent manuscripts that seem to resemble genuine research. They may…- News
COPE European Seminar: The changing face and future of publication ethics
Join us at our European Seminar to celebate 20 years of COPE. Location The Seminar is at 20 Cavendish Square, London on 25 May 2017. Registration The Seminar is free for COPE members, £300 for non-members. Register today… Case Submitted
…meetings is specific to the particular case under consideration and may not necessarily be applicable to similar cases either past or future. COPE accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused or occasioned as a result of advice given by them or by any COPE member. Advice given by COPE and its members is not given for the purposes of court proceedings…- Event
Council of Science Editors Annual Meeting 2021
…Shaping our future by embracing adaptability We are pleased to announce that COPE Council Members Rachel Safer and Trevor Lane have been invited to speak at the 2021 Council of Science Editors virtual annual meeting. On 4 May, Rachel Safer will present at the CSE session on - Case
Blatant example of duplicate publication?
A paper was submitted to one journal on 7 March, revised on 20 May, submitted to another journal on 21 March, revised on 29 May, accepted on 2 July and published in December 1997. The content of both papers is identical but each has different reference styles so were clearly intended for two different journals. The submission letter to the first journal clearly states that the material has not… - Forum discussion topics
Coordinating multi-journal complaints
June 2021 When and how to involve multiple journals and publishers in dealing with complaints from whistleblowers Complaints received from whistleblowers can develop into large investigations with multiple journals, editors, and publishers involved. Such complaints may involve many articles from a single author group or multiple… - News
Changes to data regulations: GDPR
On 25th May, an update to the 1993 Data Protection Act will come into force. This is known as the GDPR. You have probably heard of it as most of the websites, apps and services that we all use on a day-to-day basis are updating their privacy policies and sending out notices like this one. COPE collects the personal details of people in association with a journal or publisher becoming… - Research
What instructions and guidance do journals provide to their reviewers to assess submitted manuscripts? : A survey with particular emphasis on the use of reporting guidelines 2010
…currently formally used in the peer review process. The study also hopes to identify examples of good practice which may inform recommendations for consideration by other journals. If simple processes which journals have found to be helpful can be identified, more journals may consider using them which may help to improve the quality of submissions to journals and, ultimately, ease the role of peer… - Case
Balancing Anonymisation and Open Science during peer-review process
In science generally, and in medicine particularly, the protocol information forms a vital part of the scholarly process and should be available for reviewers to assess. It is not uncommon for reviewers to find manipulation or errors in the data, and if they are not shared then serious publication ethics issues may be missed. In some cases, it may be possible to anonymise these data, but… - Event
ALPSP webinar: New research assessment policies in China
The Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers are hosting this webinar to discuss the new research assessment policies in China. The Chinese government has released policy changes on how it will assess researchers. In this webinar, the speakers will review the changes and discuss how these may influence the publishing behaviour of Chinese academics and researchers…