- Case
Potential figure manipulation with corresponding author uncontactable
A reader contacted the journal to raise concerns about a paper containing a potentially manipulated figure. The editor-in-chief agreed with the assessment that the figure had been manipulated and attempted to contact the corresponding author, without response. Following further contact with the co-authors and institution, it was established that the corresponding author had retired after… - Seminars and webinars
North American Seminar 2016: Peer review manipulation. New challenges and new solutions
…Download presentation: Peer review manipulation. New challenges and new solutions [PDF, 731Kb] … - Seminars and webinars
Good Publication Practice 2022
…ghost authorship; and knowingly using predatory journals and unethical editorial services such as paper mills. COPE’s current efforts in combatting paper mills were highlighted, including guidance on ‘Systematic manipulation of the publication process’, a 2022 webinar on ‘ - News
Building an international register of ongoing systematic reviews: have your say
In response to growing concern about reporting biases, and advocacy for registration of systematic reviews, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) is leading an initiative to establish an international register of ongoing systematic reviews. - Case
The incomplete systematic review
A systematic review on the effectiveness of a comparatively new group of drugs was submitted. The review had originally been for an independent body, so the submission was an abridged version. A reviewer pointed out that the review made no reference to a Cochrane review and the trials it cited, which had been published some four months before submission of the paper to the journal. The… - Case
Image manipulation as a general practice
…community. It rather seems to us that many laboratories consider photographs as illustrations that can be manipulated, and not as original data. Thus gels are often cleaned of impurities, bands are cut out and photographs of plant material only serve to show what the authors want to demonstrate, and the material does not necessarily originate from the experiment in question. When the editor-in-chief… Potential paper mills
…in order to manipulate the publishing process. So, what can publishers do? Firstly, publishers need to take collective action to put in place appropriate- News
COPE position statement on inappropriate manipulation of peer review processes
The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has become aware of systematic, inappropriate attempts to manipulate the peer review processes of several journals across different publishers. These manipulations appear to have been orchestrated by a number of third party agencies offering services to authors. This statement is issued on behalf of COPE after consultation with a variety of… - Case
Duplicate publication and alleged image manipulation
…and asking for a response/explanation. The author freely admitted to the duplicate publication and paper 1 is in the process of being retracted. The allegation against paper 2 was image manipulation consisting of false bands being included in an assay figure. The editorial office reviewed the images and believes that they have been manipulated. As such they would like to retract the paper… - Case
Plagiarism in a systematic review
The editors received an unsolicited systematic review and the paper was assessed for suitability for peer review, as is the usual procedure for this journal. The editor who assessed the manuscript noticed similarities with a systematic review published in the same journal last year and investigated the extent of overlap further. The new paper covered a more… - News
Case discussion: Editor manipulation of impact factor
…of acceptance, the author could use his/her experience or influence as an editor-in-chief of a COPE-member journal to explain why coercive citation and citation manipulation are unethical and to request a second opinion or an impartial investigation. Ultimately, editors or reviewers who are found to systematically engage in coerced citation can be replaced (eg, as in cases - Case
Editor manipulation of impact factor
The Forum agreed with the advice given previously by COPE council on this case. The summary is given below. Citation concerns have been raised by Clarivate Analytics as evidenced by recent dropping of some journals for citation manipulation. It may be unavoidable to cite the journal if the subject is a new or niche topic as there may be fewer options for citing peer reviewed work in the… - Case
Image manipulation case
…manipulation of the histology image in the erratum. It appeared to the journal that the images in question came from two consecutive tissue sections, which the authors confirmed. Subsequently, they stated they “messed up the images” and wanted to publish an erratum to the erratum. The journal declined as they thought if these were consecutive sections from the same tissue block that were treated differently,… Action against paper mills
…discussion around this through COPE and the STM Integrity Hub. Related resources Addressing concerns about systematic manipulation of the publication process COPE guidance 2023- Case
Possible image manipulation
…has 16 papers on PubPeer with similar allegations of image manipulation. Question for COPE Council Is there anything further we can/should do? … - Case
Possible peer review manipulation
…other co-authors. The journal has a copy of the emails exchanged at the time between the reviewer and the corresponding author, the corresponding author and the co-authors, and the email to the corresponding author by the co-author who wrote the comments. The journal has not yet contacted the corresponding author or the reviewer. The journal believes this is a case of peer review manipulation… - Flowcharts
All Flowcharts
…office updated 2022 Systematic manipulation of the publication process, updated 2022 Addressing concerns about systematic manipulation of the publication process new 2023 Peer… - 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… - Event
COPE webinar: managing paper mills
…top Related resources Paper mills: authorship for sale COPE Seminar 2021 Systematic manipulation of the publication process, COPE guidance, updated 2022