- News
Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2019
…making' which we summarise and invite you to add your comments. Join us in determining the next steps for our fictional research integrity officer, Jo, who we introduced in March this year. Plus the monthly news roundup and events coming up in 2020. Read December Digest: Top 5 cases 2019… - News
Letter from COPE Vice-Chair: February 2020
…advice on new cases submitted by members and the topic discussion, editing of reviewer comments. Plus the roundup of news as gathered by COPE Council members. Read February Digest: Editing reviewer comments… - Case
A falling out
A research letter was submitted from a team of investigators,A, B, C, and D. In their covering letter they reported that: A was involved in planning the study, collecting patient samples, and in writing the manuscript; B measured IL-10 polymorphisms and analysed the results; C was involved in supervising the measurement of polymorphisms and in writing the manuscript; D was involved in planning… - Case
Parallels between unpublished manuscript and a published article from other authors
I am seeking advice on a confidential ‘letter of concern’ from an author (X) of a manuscript submitted before I was appointed editor of the journal but rejected by me on the advice of the associate editor. Author X is concerned with similarities or parallels between his manuscript, rejected in 2008, and a recently published article. I have looked over our file and contacted the associate… - Case
Suspicion of breach of proper peer reviewer behaviour
An author submitted a paper for peer review with journal X on a topic that refers to a very recently published paper (ie, highly timely). The peer review was rather protracted because of long response times, reviewer substitution and the need to re-review the manuscript after a major revision. Just before the second decision was rendered, the author contacted the editor-in-chief with a s… - Case
Are copyrighted conference audiotapes considered "prior publication"?
An editor received a query from an author: “Your guidelines are clear that presenting data at a society meeting does not preclude publication. But what if the society records the presentation, retains copyright of that recording, and posts it online? Is asking presenters to turn over copyright of a recording of data presented at a prepublication stage and disseminating the recording as they see… - News
In the news: December 2020
…href="http://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/science/diversity-science-journals.html" target="_blank">diversity in scientific publishing. During 2020, increasing calls for diversity among authors, editorial boards, and journal leadership have gained momentum. Wu reports that few of the publishers she contacted for her story collected demographic data on authors and that two that did so, cautioned that the data were unreliable due to low response rate by authors.… - Case
Author non-disclosure by editor in chief
Please note, this case is being submitted by the Publishing Director of the journal based on the advice of a senior COPE member because it relates to the conduct of the editor in chief of the journal. The editor in chief of the journal is aware that the case is being submitted. A letter of complaint was submitted in November 2009 relating to an editorial published in one of our journals,… - 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… - News
In the news: June 2018 Digest
…Review The theme of Peer Review week, September 10-15, 2018, is “Diversity and Inclusion in Peer review. The announcement about the week and ways to participate is at https://peerreviewweek.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/prw-press-release1.pdf Deborah Sweet published a blog bost on CROSSTALK… - News
Diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility: COPE commentary
…within the wider publishing community. In March 2022 we issued a position statement which stated that 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… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: July 2019
…Please help us by filling in our survey which should take no longer than 10 minutes. Begin survey. COPE Chair Systematic manipulation of the publishing process via paper mills: Forum discussion topic September 2020
…the publication process are being seen. The production of fraudulent papers at scale via alleged ‘paper mills’ is one such manipulation. Paper mills are profit oriented, unofficial and potentially illegal organisations that produce and sell fraudulent manuscripts that seem to resemble genuine research. They may…- Webform
COPE peer review workshop, November 2020
…Peer review workshop Thursday 19 November 2020, online workshop 9.00am - 10.30am (GMT) (COPE Members only) REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED AS WORKSHOP IS FULL Following on from the success of our Peer Review Workshop during this year’s Peer Review Week, COPE is re-running… - Case
Potential redundant publication
A group of authors from the same specialty unit published a study in Journal A on all prehospital X procedures. They then sent another paper on X procedure in a subgroup of patients to Journal B. Paper B references paper A, but does not make it apparent that there is any overlap in these studies. On questioning by editor B, they stated that no patients in paper B were included in the previous s… - Case
Ethical approval and parental consent
A journal received a paper from a single author, attributed to a UK institution, in which 10 children were operated on using two techniques, each child having one technique to one side and one to the other side, at the same operation. The paper went to review, and neither reviewer spotted that this was a prospective surgical study on children, with no mention of consent or ethical… - Case
Prolific authors
…Wells F: Fraud and misconduct in biomedical research. BMJ Books, 1993), for example, Robert Slutsky published 1 paper every 10 days. Questions for COPE: (1) Is our suspicion of these authors reasonable, and at what levels do other editors become concerned about whether or not an author is truly deserving of authorship? - Case
Lack of patient consent for a case report, patient confidentiality
A case report was submitted to journal X reporting on a child who had been admitted to hospital suffering an injury, which the doctors suspected resulted from a deliberate cigarette burn. This was not proved until the child returned to hospital with other non-accidental injuries, and following a full criminal investigation the child’s parents were convicted of child abuse. Patient consen… - Case
Authorship dispute
Professor X claims that he should have been a coauthor on one of two peer reviewed publications and the senior author on the other. The situation is unusual in that Professor X is now retired and his name was omitted from coauthorship of both papers. Professor X argues that he should have been the senior author of the first manuscript since the funds to initiate the project were directly derive… - Case
More than a breach of confidentiality?
A journal received two manuscripts on the same topic in short succession.Manuscript A was rejected after peer review; manuscript B, submitted a few months later, was accepted after peer review. When manuscript B was published, author X contacted the journal to express concern about similarities between both papers and the fact that the first had been rejected and the second accepted. The…