- Case
Author retracts request to be removed from author list
…having a number of papers retracted, all of which feature the same dataset and similar errors. Those papers were voluntarily retracted by all of the coauthors involved. Dr B has also been subject to several investigations at their most recent employer (University 1) and their previous university. Dr B’s employment at University 1 was terminated in the same week that Dr A asked for their name to be… - Case
Can a journal retract a paper against the recommendation of an institutional investigation?
…the institute director, who initiated an institutional investigation. The institutional committee said that they checked all of the original data and found no signs of manipulation. The institution also confirmed that the corrected files were in order. Question for COPE Council The editors believe the paper should be retracted based on the serious issues with the… - Case
Request by organisation to retract article and publish expression of concern
A group of unspecified members of an organisation have written an expression of concern (letter via email) to the editors wherein they request that an article previously published in the journal be retracted since they believe it is biased and inaccurate about regulation details within the organisation. They are further requesting that their letter be published in the journal. The… - Case
Institution wants to retract despite ongoing legal proceedings
…publication of article A and before publication of article B, a senior colleague of author A at institution A contacted publisher A asking for article A to be retracted. The claimant said author A had left institution A after the submission to journal A but before publication. The claimant alleged that author A used other researchers’ data without permission and used the affiliation without approval… - Case
Retraction or expression of concern?
…some more experimental detail and data. At this point we approached author A telling him that we did not think the data he provided supported his claims and that he might want to consider retracting the article. Author A responded by sending us several opinions from ‘experts’ he had found arguing that the article should not be retracted. None of these ‘experts’ is an expert in the imaging technique… - Case
What extent of plagiarism demands a retraction versus correction?
…origin of the idea for the approach. The team’s interpretation of the COPE Retraction Guidelines was that this is a partial duplication (thereby treating the grey literature as part of the 'scientific literature' – see question 4 below) and, given that the article adds testing of the method and hence the proof-of-concept, that readers are best served with a correction. It seemed that a retraction, as… - Case
Co authors’ unwillingness to support retraction of a review
…papers), and E (review). The Journal C paper was reference 5 in the Journal A review. Dr X denied that he had “stolen” the figure. However, after an “expert review” Journal C concluded that the figures were the same and the journal’s editors retracted Dr X’s paper. Dr X has since started legal proceedings against one of the editors of Journal C. Professor W is pushing for a complete retraction of the… - Case
Wrong version of article published. Should we retract?
The incorrect PDF version of an article was published together with the correct HTML, XML and EPUB versions. The variations between the PDF and other versions are language editing related, and do not affect the scientific value or scientific nature of the article. Questions for COPE Council Given that two version of the article exists, should the journal retract… - Case
Removing a retracted article from a third party site
Journal A published a case report. Following publication, the publisher of journal A was contacted by a representative of the individual depicted in the article stating that, contrary to what the authors stated in the article, consent was not given for the publication. The article was retracted and removed to protect the identity of the individual and all indexing sites were updated. The… - Case
A case of plagiarism?
A paper was published in our journal. A reader contacted us and informed us that the whole of the introduction of the paper was copied directly from another publication. The editor-in-chief suggested retracting the paper immediately. However, the author insists on publishing a correction. They do not want to publish a retraction as this will affect their future career development. - Case
Is there a time limit for submitting a critique of a published article?
…be a correction notice, an erratum, or retraction of the article, depending on the nature and intensity of the error. Questions to the Forum Is there a time limit for considering critiques/comments by a journal on published research? Is there a time interval after publication for retracting an article or issuing a notice of concern? … - Case
Request for retraction due to alleged ethical misconduct in a grant application
A journal received a request from University A for a published paper to be retracted, citing ethical issues with the grant application submitted by an author from University B. The journal is satisfied that the rigorous editorial processes required by the journal were followed prior to publication and asked for specific details of the ethical breach; evidence that all authors on the… - Case
Request for a retraction from a pharmaceutical company
A journal recently received an 11 page letter via email titled ‘request for a retraction’ from a pharmaceutical company (PC). They have issues with one of our critically appraised topic(s) which critically appraises two papers that were funded by PC and written by employees at PC. The two papers were published in separate journals. Our critically appraised topic (CAT) was peer reviewed… - Case
Author misconduct
…You can listen to the podcast of this case from the menu on the right The rector at author D’s institution contacted the editor of journal A stating that they have found what they evidently consider to be serious misconduct in an article written by author D and the rector requested author D to retract the paper from journal A but author D refused to do so. The institution contacted… - Case
Journal refuses to correct the record
…a retraction and a letter submitted from the author group admitting a "disagreeable mistake". Journal X publishes infrequently, so I checked over the past 12 months for the retraction and published letter. The notice and letter were never published and the article is still available through the journal's website and SCOPUS. I contacted the editor of journal X in October 2012 to ask him if he planned… - Case
Lack of acknowledgement of contributor
Our case relates to a paper (by author’s A and B) that was retracted because of lack of acknowledgement of the contribution of another author (C). The retraction statement noted: “While the A/B paper is largely the work of A and B, it includes some sentences and ideas that previously appeared in an unpublished paper and/or Power Point presentation only with A and C listed as authors. We regret… - Case
Author admits failure to credit other authors
…found that the author had left and was now a resident of another country. The university was unable to assist in resolving the authorship issue. The AOR then contacted the journal and stated that due to disagreement on the order of authorship, he was requesting a retraction of the article. One more attempt was made by the editor and a co-author to resolve the dispute, but the AOR refused to… - Case
Call for retraction of a commentary
…(unspecified) partisan purposes in country X and had been sent direct to the author, copying in the editor-in-chief. Both correspondents stated that a retraction was warranted. The author of the commentary submitted a point-by-point response to the editor-in-chief. It concluded by recognizing the controversy around the commentary but said that the bullying tactics in demanding that the commentary be… - Case
Query about errata
Your retraction guidelines include comments about corrections. They also advise that notices of retraction should be linked to the original retracted articles. But, it is not 100% clear whether notices of correction (that is, errata and corrigenda, as opposed to retractions) should also be linked directly to/embedded in the… - Case
Victim of article theft wants correction to list their name, not retraction
…this had been their advisor's work. They agreed to retraction. Author A has asked whether instead of retracting we might publish a correction to replace author B with the rightful author, Author A, because the article has already been peer reviewed and accepted. Question(s) for the COPE Forum • Is correcting a stolen article to list the correct authors a potential…