- News
COPE Forum agenda and materials: 23 September 2014 meeting
…quickly if you wish to join in the discussion. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/428471599 The website link will be open from 2pm to enable you to test your audio settings. The Forum, however, will start promptly at 3pm and it may not be possible to resolve technical issues after the… - Case
Plagiarism
A manuscript submitted to journal X was remarkably similar to a paper already published in journal Y. The similarities were noticed by one of the peer reviewers for journal X. The paper has been rejected by journal X but the editor has now written to each of the authors asking for an explanation and has told them that if a reasonable explanation is not forthcoming, she will inform the dean of… - Case
Inadequately supervised research?
…which is very poor. For such a study to have any validity there must be two independent researchers. _ This case was also unusual in that the author was also the carer of the families. And the poor design of the study had not been picked up any independent scientific reviewers at the ethics committee stage. _ Await a response from the supervisor before taking any further action.… - Discussion documents
How should editors respond to plagiarism? April 2011
Summary This paper aims to stimulate discussion about how editors should respond to plagiarism. Different types of plagiarism are described in terms of their: extent, originality of the copied material, context, referencing, intention, author seniority, and language. Journal responses to plagiarism are also described including: educating authors, contacting authors’… - News
COPE Forum: 9 December 2014 meeting
…so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion.Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5128542607968922114 The website link will be open from 8am to enable you to test your audio settings. The Forum, however, will start promptly at 9am… - News
COPE Forum: 10 June 2015 meeting
…to 100 attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/876451871628660482 The website link will be open from 9.30am to enable you to test your audio settings. The Forum, however, will start promptly at… - News
COPE Forum: 9 December 2015
…attendees, so please register quickly if you wish to join in the discussion. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9218809434404207617 The website link will be open from 11.30am to enable you to test your audio settings. The Forum, however, will start promptly at 12… - Case
A surgical series that is scientifically meaningless, has no ethics committee approval, and does not mention informed consent
A study from a foreign author was submitted in which he describes a series of patients whom he has operated on to treat their migraine. The operation is something that he has devised himself and consists of suturing a superficial temporal artery. The surgeon has operated on over 1200 patients. There is no clear definition of how the diagnosis was made and no control group. There is no mention… - Case
Clinical misconduct(?), incidentally discovered
An author submitted a speculative article offering a new explanation for the aetiology of premenstrual syndrome, and a new suggestion for its treatment. The paper was wholly based on a priori reasoning, rather than evidence. It was rejected. The authors appealed, citing as evidence in favour of publishing their paper that they had had successful results treating two patients with the proposed… - Case
An appropriate response to concerns of research validity
A paper describing a novel technique was submitted. Three out of four external reviewers felt that the results could not be true. The manufacturers of the tool used in the technique provided evidence to support the reviewers’ claims that the results were not feasible. The editor wrote to the authors asking them to explain their results. The authors replied saying that they were unable… - Seminars and webinars
J-STAGE Seminar 2021: Peer review
Dr Trevor Lane, COPE Council member, was invited by the Japan Science and Technology Agency to speak at the First J-STAGE webinar on 28 July 2021 for local editors, academic societies, researchers, and administrators. Titled “Fundamental Principles of Peer Review and Peer Review Ethics”, the presentation introduced COPE to the 200+ attendees and covered topics including peer review models,… - Case
The incomplete systematic review
_ The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is designed to be used by anyone. The paper was an incomplete systematic review so it should be rejected. _ Was the advisory group aware that the authors were not submitting a complete review? _ In effect, drug companies are often the advisory group. _ If the authors are asked to revise their paper, they should describe the role of the advisory… - Translated resources
El autor de un artículo rechazado nombra y critica de forma pública al revisor por pares: caso
…COPE puede ser útil en este campo. Basado en el caso 16-12 Author of rejected paper publicly names and criticises peer reviewer Related resources - Event
COPE Forum: April 2018
Open to COPE members only. Our Forum, where we discuss cases submitted by members, will take place on 30 April from 4-5.30pm (GMT). Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the cases being discussed. We will also be discussing Preprints: Continuing the… - News
COPE Forum discussion: Preprints: continuing the conversation
Preprint platforms have been common in physics and mathematics but the preprint landscape is changing rapidly with new platforms emerging across various disciplines. This raises opportunities for discussion across communities and for all those involved:… - Event
COPE European Seminar 2019
COPE's 2019 European Seminar will be held in Leiden, Netherlands on 23 September 2019. More details on the programme can be found here. The venue… - Seminars and webinars
ISMTE webinar 2020: Citation games
…reviewers and editors, and citation rings, citation manipulation undermines research integrity. Can we treat all citations as equal, such as those to articles in predatory journals, retracted or corrected articles, and non-peer reviewed content? Citation games: mocking research (PDF) Related resources - News
Welcome new COPE members April-June 2019
Welcome to our new members who have joined COPE between April and June 2019. The new members have been assessed against criteria outlined in the Principles of Transparency and signing up to COPE shows that they intend to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics outlined in the - Event
COPE Forum November 2017
Our COPE Forum will be held by webinar and is open to COPE members. Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the cases being discussed. Register now as the Forum is limited to 100 attendees. We will also be discussing Self-Citation: Where's the Line? during the… - News
Identifying fake journals
…-publishing">Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, a set of criteria used by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA and WAME when assessing journals which apply for membership of their organisations. Many predatory journals and publishers do not fulfil these criteria. COPE’s Predatory…