- News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: May 2018
…from universities together as stakeholder partners. Part of this is an exploration of what COPE might provide particularly for representatives from universities to help promote integrity in research and its publication. The work of that team of brave volunteers has already influenced our peer… - News
Creating and implementing research data policies: COPE webinar report
…reviewers. Authors are encouraged to deposit data in community repositories rather than as online supplementary files and to cite public datasets in the references. They can email questions to a dedicated Research Data Helpdesk at [email protected], which will answer queries within two business days. So far, 1091 journals have adopted data… - Case
Unethical research undertaken by a single handed GP
We have received a paper from a GP testing the hypotheses that because 24,25 cholecalciferol has a similar structure to commercially available statins, it may act as an inhibitor of HMA co-reductase. He screened 350 patients in his practice and identified 77 who had a cholesterol concentration above 6.5 mmol per litre. Thirty-three of them agreed to return for a second test 2 weeks later. They… - Case
Handling undisclosed peer reviewer conflict
…without change so looked up this reviewer and found a manuscript in press at another journal where the reviewer, as an author, disclosed relationships with the same company the authors work at. These included honoraria, consultant fees, and advisory board participation. The manuscript in press indeed was about the same drug covered in the submission. The reviewer answered "no" to the question asked… - Case
Plagiarism of published paper
…the second published paper. The reviewer also noted that most of the data were the same or had been only slightly changed and the text in the materials and methods section was also mostly identical. The reviewer asked me as editor to inform the first author’s institution asking for an in-depth investigation of this case of scientific fraud. The reviewer also said that he would inform the director of… - Case
Peer reviewer contacted by author
In a single anonymous peer review process, a reviewer gave an author detailed suggestions about improvements in the statistical analysis. The author was asked to revise and resubmit the paper to address these and other reviewers' suggestions. The author, unaware of the reviewer’s identity, subsequently approached the reviewer as a respected colleague at a professional meeting to discuss the… - Case
Image manipulation case
A journal was contacted by a non-anonymous whistleblower pointing out problems with two figures in a published paper. The journal wrote to the authors, who provided them with films for the gels and an explanation and additional figure data for the histology image, where a mistake was made when assembling the images. The journal published an erratum and informed the whistleblower. Editing of reviewer comments: Forum discussion topic March 2020
Peer reviewers are asked to contribute intellectual work to assess and improve scholarly publications. As with all work, the quality and characteristics of peer reviews vary. Editors responsibilities include support not only to the peer reviewers who typically volunteer the time and knowledge but also to the authors, who reasonably should expect non-conflicted, thoughtful, unbiased, thorough…- News
COPE Research Grant - deadline looming
A reminder that the deadline for applications for the COPE research grant is 1 June 2011. Any COPE member can apply for a grant (up to £5000) for a research project into publication ethics. See FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…DISCLOSED CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Disclosure of conflicts of interest is essential to preserving the integrity of published research. Though previous COPE guidelines have addressed the editor's role in administering undisclosed conflicts of interest, less attention has been…- Case
Wrong version of article published. Should we retract?
…the correct version, accompanied by a note explaining the change that had been made and describing the differences. A Publisher's Note or a Correction would be sufficient. Since the other versions of the article were correct and the differences are minor, there do not appear to be grounds for retraction. In summary, it is necessary to ensure that the online, and hopefully the print, version of the… - Event
8th Annual Meeting of International Association of Veterinary Editors (IAVE)
COPE Council member, Geri Pearson, will be talking about COPE at the 8th annual meeting of the International Association of Veterinary Editors to be held in St.Louis, Missouri. For more information see: http://www.veteditors.org/veteditorsmtg-2011.html… - News
SpotOn London 2012: Q&A with Dr Ginny Barbour
Leading up to the session on academic misconduct and fraud at SpotOn London, on 11-12 November, COPE chair Ginny Barbour did a Q&A for Nature. See here:… - News
4th International Conference on Information Law and Ethics, May 2011
…(Germany) and NEXA Center for Internet and Society (Italy) For more details and information on call for papers please see the website: http://conferences.ionio.gr/icil2011 Papers on publication ethics are very welcome.… Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility position statement
…COPE position statement COPE is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable culture, where all voices are welcomed and heard, and difference is celebrated. Through our words and actions, we intend to work for real change and to nurture and represent broader and more diverse research integrity, publication ethics, and wider scholarly publishing communities. Related…- Case
The dubious scientist
A scientist wrote to a medical journal asking if it was interested in receiving an editorial from him. The editorial would criticise current HIV vaccine research. The scientist is the senior partner of a technology company, and he printed his company’s website in his communication to the journal. The home page of the website advertises a patented toxin, and the site claims that this toxin can… - Case
Ethical concerns and the validity of documentation supplied by the authors
We became concerned that not all of the co-authors were aware of a research paper submitted to our journal due to the difficulty receiving responses from the email addresses that had been supplied and their nature, given that the authors all worked in a hospital/academic institution. Despite repeated requests and attempts we remained dissatisfied with the responses and did not feel certain… - Case
Unauthorised reviewer challenges
…submission system and which included all of the author details. In total, the email is estimated to have been received by around 440 individuals. One of the recipients of the email contacted the society’s editorial office (EO) to report what had happened. The EO contacted the editor-in-chief and handling editor of the paper to see if they knew anything about the situation, but the reviewer had not…