- News
Tackling the problem of paper mills
…virtual) Academic Publishing Europe Conference. The session, “The Version of Record under Attack! The Dark Side of the Scholarly Publishing Universe”, was chaired by Dr Liz Marchant (Taylor & Francis). The session had presentations from two editors of scholarly journals, Professor Dr Christian Behl and Professor Dr Bernhard Sabel, and from Tim Kersjes, a Research… - 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 - Case
Publishing a letter concerning a paper published in another journal many years ago
Recently, Journal X received a letter to the editor based on an article published in another journal about 8 years previously. The editors of Journal X believe this letter is important to their readers. The original article was a seminal paper which changed practice. However, a group of authors challenged some of the data published in this trial in a subsequent review published about 7 ye… - Case
Data integrity issues
Several years ago, a third party contacted the journal with concerns about data irregularities in two randomised controlled trials published about 10 years ago. Both of the papers were published before the journal had strict requirements on data upload to a public repository and availability. The journal sent an initial email to the corresponding author of both papers (the same author fo… - Case
An unpublished PhD thesis included in an institutional library is submitted to an academic journal
A manuscript was submitted to Journal A. A routine CrossCheck report revealed a 70% match to the author's PhD thesis. The journal recommended that the author expand the article with new content. The author raised an objection, arguing that the PhD thesis is not published in a journal, but is only included in the institutional library. The journal noted that related issues had been… - Case
Can a published journal article be submitted to conferences?
An article is submitted to a journal and accepted for future publication. The authors receive the acceptance letter and the script is waiting for the final publication process (within 4-6 months). During this time the authors ask the journal if they can present the full text of the article at a conference (which is going to be held before the publication by the journal). They also declar… - Flowcharts
Addressing concerns about systematic manipulation of the publication process
…="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/systematic-manipulation-publication-process">Systematic manipulation of the publication process flowcharts Managing paper mills COPE seminar, September 2022 How do we deal with the growing problem of paper mill - Case
Requesting authorship after publication
To support a recommendation to publish a correction listing Dr H in an acknowledgment (not as an author), the editors sent the institution the following post from Retraction Watch, which describes a similar situation. The institution agreed with this… - Case
Should stockholders of a pharmaceutical industry declare conflicts of interest in a research paper?
…such guidelines. Both of the US Preventive Services Taskforce and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also have moved beyond a simple declaration of interest in these guidelines on managing conflicts of interest . Questions for COPE Council What is the… New UK Panel for Research Integrity
…area of greatest need first, expanding to others if we can clearly demonstrate the usefulness of such a move. Of the 66 allegations reported, a prima facie case was established after a stage I investigation in 35 cases, and in 19 cases, the allegations were upheld in full. Contact was made with the Department of Health at an early stage. It was clear that they…- News
COPE in 2023
…A time to review and look forward In 2022, COPE celebrated its 25th year. While we celebrated this anniversary with pride in all that we have achieved over the past 25 years, we also took the opportunity to reflect on COPE’s role and purpose in a rapidly evolving research and publication landscape.… - News
Case discussion: self-plagiarism and suspected salami publishing
…manuscript processing, including signed copyright transfer and/or publishing agreements. Trevor Lane on behalf of the COPE Education Subcommittee… - News
Guest editorial: Data availability statements
…responsibility lies with authors and editors to be aware of such relevant regulations at the time of publication to be articulated in the DAS. The inclusion of a DAS in articles should promote actual data sharing, recognizing that data sharing is a fundamental step towards increasing the reproducibility and trustworthiness of science. However, as indicated by Ian… - Case
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…even a research type letter, the authors could remove the affected material and references, without referring to the retracted papers. If the letters cite the papers in the context of journalology, or criticise the same issues that underlie later retraction, it could be argued the letters could stay, with an explanatory editorial note (see for example - Forum discussion topics
Ethical considerations around book publishing
…href="https://publicationethics.org/events/cope-forum-tuesday-23-march">publication ethics cases will be presented for discussion and advice from the Forum participants. Register to attend the Forum, Tuesday 23 March, 2-3.30pm (GMT). The Forum takes place by webinar and is available to COPE members only. --> Your comments Anyone… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Introduction to publication ethics
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Peer review models
…introduction to the COPE Forum discussion on the topic "Peer review models" with COPE Council Member, Patrick Franzen. COPE Forum discussion Peer review sits at the core of scholarly publishing.… - Case
Exposing citation manipulation and fraud in the community
A publisher has identified a ring of three individuals who acted as guest editors for three special issues. These individuals used nine fake accounts to peer review manuscripts. For some manuscripts, the fake identities were used alongside legitimate reviewers, while in other cases they were used exclusively. The publisher has also identified several submissions to those special issues where th… - Case
Data availability for vulnerable populations
A paper on a vulnerable population was published in a journal. The journal followed their usual procedures for processing papers on vulnerable populations, by requesting and reviewing further information on the ethics approval and consent procedures of the study (e.g.: recruitment procedures; blank version of the consent document participants read and signed; the study protocol that was approve…