- Case
Retraction request after university investigation found no evidence of fraud
COPE Council judged in 2022 that ‘A journal has the right to retract an article, even when an institutional investigation does not find misconduct. The editor is responsible for the ethical standards of their journal, and if the editor has independent evidence that… Membership: universities and research institutes
COPE announced the launch of membership for selected universities and research institutes in May 2022. An initial group of universities and research institutes have joined as members and will help ensure that the dedicated resources provide the appropriate support and guidance that universities and research institutes need: Aston University |- Flowcharts
Systematic manipulation of the publication process
…process COPE guidance 2023 Paper mills research report COPE & STM, 2022 How to recognise potential manipulation of the peer review process COPE infographic - Case
Temporary exception to double anonymised review policy
The journal conducts double-anonymous reviews of all manuscripts submitted. As part of the decision process, reviewers routinely receive a copy of the decision letter, which includes reviewers’ comments. In the transition to a new editorial staff, a change to the email template inadvertently meant that the full letter was sent out, including the corresponding author’s name. Before this was disc… - Event
COPE webinar: Standards in authorship
…are just some of the questions we intend to cover during the webinar. There will be an open discussion with questions from attendees. You can email your question in advance or ask questions during the webinar. The webinar is free, and open to COPE members only. Register for authorship… - Seminars and webinars
Inclusive language: policing or progressive?
…initial !important} /*-->*/ /*-->*/ Back to top Chaired by COPE Trustee… - News
A vision for a more trans-inclusive publishing world: guest article
…evolutions-of-self be accommodated by a robust, well resourced, low effort process. [1] We outline these risks in detail in a white paper [2] While this document is written with name changes in mind, many trans… - Case
Excessive self-citation in a book chapter
The case concerns an introductory chapter in a book. The publisher was first contacted about potential misconduct as part of a broader investigation into an academic who was a coauthor on an introductory chapter in a book. The publisher's subsequent investigation identified excessive self-citation in the work (one of the coauthors is named as an author on 12 out of 16 referenced works).… - Case
Unauthorised reviewer challenges
A paper submitted to a journal with a single anonymous peer review policy was assigned to a prospective reviewer, who agreed to undertake the review. The reviewer then sent an email addressed to a number of different research group and institutional mailing lists calling for volunteers to review the paper. The reviewer attached the PDF of the paper, which had been downloaded from the submission… Press
…transparency and best practice released 15 September 2022 The fourth edition of the Principles represents a collective effort between the four organisations to align the principles with today’s scholarly publishing landscape. Guidance is provided on the information that should be made available on websites, peer review, access, author fees and publication ethics. The…- Case
Academic freedom
A final year student, and two other researchers in law, all from the same university, undertook research into a recent court judgment on the rules in relation to civil servants making public comments. Based on this research, a manuscript was drafted to be submitted to a double anonymised peer reviewed journal. The manuscript is highly critical of the judgment’s reasoning and impact. All three a… The ethics of audit and research
…are issues around the ossification of process, how innovation and change can be accommodated, and about the perverse incentives that any bureaucratic system imposes on everyone who interacts with it. In a recent paper in the BMJ (2005; 330: 468-73), Derek Wade…- News
Case Discussion: Withdrawal of paper at proof stage
…alt="https://secure.adnxs.com/seg?add=8075952&t=2" src="https://secure.adnxs.com/seg?add=8075952&t=2" style="height:1px; width:1px" /> In our March issue of Digest Deborah Poff, COPE Chair, shares guidance and cases relevant to anyone who is new to publication ethics issues or needs a refresher. Following our recent Forum, we'd love to hear your views relating to editing of peer review comments in our survey. The results of… - News
Case Discussion: Lack of trial registration leads to new concerns about study conduct and ethical review/approval
…Trevor Lane on behalf of the COPE Education Subcommittee… - News
Authorship and Contributorship focus: an editor view and research institution view
…://publicationethics.org/resources/seminars/copes-first-webinar-information-shared-discussion-and-practical-advice-common">COPE’s webinar on “Standards in Authorship.” Mark Hooper and colleagues from QUT shared several resources on authorship and publication. In addition, Siu-wai Leung, University of… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: April 2019
…What we’ve learned: Reflections at the end of our term as COPE Co-Chairs Image credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated Jerry Segraves-jerrysfoto.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-reflect.jpg We often reflect… - News
Conflicts of interest focus
…Related resources Editorial conflicts of interest COPE Forum discussion 2022 Undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article COPE article 2021 … Submitting a guest editorial or opinion piece to COPE
…any loss or damage caused or occasioned as a result of the publication of a guest editorial or opinion article. Publication history This policy will be reviewed and updated at the discretion of the editors. Published: 25 January 2022 Updated: 20 June 2023…- News
Guest article: Detecting integrity issues
…href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/systematic-manipulation-publication-process">Systematic manipulation of the publication process, COPE guidance 2022 The evolving relationship between universities and scholarly publishers, COPE Seminar Keynote address 2021… - Case
Possible peer review manipulation
A journal received a complaint by one of the co-authors of an article submitted by a research team, stating that one of the reviewers suggested by the corresponding author sent an email to corresponding author asking them to tell them what comments they should insert in their review. In response, the corresponding author asked the co-authors to propose comments to be sent to the reviewer. One o…