- Case
Lack of ethical approval and not reporting experimental evidence
In May 2011 a letter from the Vice-Rector for Personnel of a reputable university was sent to the editor mentioning that two articles published in the journal contained two statements not supported by documented evidence. The two statements related to: (1) approval of the local ethics committee and (2) representation of the experimental evidence. With regard to point (1), the authors sta… - Case
Author requests for certain experts not to be included in the editorial process
The Editors decided to comply with the author’s request. The manuscript was rejected, based on two peer-review reports and opinions from 11 editors. The author was told that the journal had complied with the request, and that advice had been sought from COPE. The author subsequently appealed the decision; this was not upheld. In light of this, the editorial board were asked to create… - Translated resources
El autor solicita que ciertos expertos no participen en el proceso editorial: caso
…Existe el peligro de que esto envalentone más aún al autor si los revisores que sugirió finalmente están involucrados en el proceso de revisión. Además, los editores tienen el deber de proteger a los revisores. Sejuimiento Los editores decidieron acceder a la solicitud del autor. El manuscrito se rechazó basándose en los informes de dos revisores por pares y en la opinión de 11… - 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
In the news: October 2018 Digest
…pharmaceutical companies that fail to report clinical-trials results only or to register the trials at ClinicalTrials.gov. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06801-7 In a study of the EU guidance to report trial results within a 1-year time frame, investigators found that only 11% of… - News
Case Discussion: Lack of trial registration leads to new concerns about study conduct and ethical review/approval
…Case Summary Case 11-11 The editors of a journal noticed that a published article reported clinical trial results without mentioning trial registration. When… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: December 2018
…="https://mailchi.mp/publicationethics/authorship-issues-peer-review-manipulation-cope-digest-december-2018">Read December Digest: Authorship Issues | Peer Review Manipulation (Image credit: Leaf changing colour. License: CC0 Public Domain https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=59188&picture=leaf-changing-color)… - News
Authorship and Contributorship focus: an editor view and research institution view
…particular note are the Discussion Document "What constitutes authorship?"; the position statement Responsible research publication: international standards for authors, the… - News
Case discussion: Low-risk study with no ethics committee approval
…Forum case (11-16), a journal rejected a paper on an online questionnaire study for being unethically conducted despite receiving retrospective ethics approval. Advance ethical approval or official exemption is recommended for survey studies (highlighted in… - News
Case discussion: Suspected plagiarism
…Case 19-04 Suspected plagiarism A single author submitted a paper to a journal. A similarity check revealed 48% similarity with another published paper. The published paper was by different authors—5 in total. The similarities between the papers were in the introduction, methods and discussion… - News
In the news: August
…16.8.19 Research Ethics The University of Central Lancashire joins the University of Cape Town to adopt a code of conduct to stamp out “ethics dumping”, in which international research takes advantage of the lack of awareness or regulation in some poorer countries to conduct work. Examples include high risk medical research studies for which participants have experienced a… Facilitation and Integrity FAQ
…style="text-decoration:none;">[email protected] with any other queries. COPE resources are available under a CC BY-NC-ND license, and thus the resources may be used by journals and publishers regardless of whether they are COPE members. A reference to COPE materials or COPE standards on the journal’s web pages does not, by itself, imply COPE membership. Therefore, it is…- News
In the news: September 2018 Digest
…communications? https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/08/28/all-about-open-annotation/ - News
In the news: June 2018 Digest
…href="http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2018/04/11/1078-0432.CCR-18-0227" target="_blank">http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2018/04/11/1078-0432.CCR-18-0227 The XPhi Replicabilty project will seek to replicate about 40 studies in experimental philosophy to estimate the replicability in this field that has methods similar to social psychology. In… - Case
Author of rejected letter blames global bias against his message and undisclosed conflicts of interest
The editor in chief received a letter to the editor criticising a paper published earlier in the journal. The editor first told the author of the letter that he would publish the commentary after he had given the authors of the criticised paper a chance to respond. When asked by the author of the letter, he later added that he would also publish the letter if the authors failed to respond.… - News
Case discussion: Editor manipulation of impact factor
…href="https://publicationethics.org/case/editor-and-reviewers-requiring-authors-cite-their-own-work" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">18-03 and 19-01). There are legitimate reasons for authors to cite and reference their past works, for reviewers and editors to suggest their own references to authors, and for… - News
In the news: February Digest
…scientific record is, to this editor, awe inspiring. https://retractionwatch.com/2020/01/02/nobel-winner-retracts-paper-from-science/ In other news The New York Times published an analysis by Dana Goldstein of 8 American History texts used by 8th and 11… The COPE Case Taxonomy
…the COPE European Seminar 2014)Download presentation [PDF 552kB] | Watch presentation [14:19] Publication Ethics: 16 years of COPE — Irene Hames, Charon A Pierson, Natalie E Ridgeway and Virginia Barbour(Presented at the 7th International…- News
Citations: Link, Locate, Discover, Connect
…manipulation discussion document, 2019 Reviewer requesting addition of multiple citations of their own work case 19-01… - News
Case Discussion: Data fabrication in a rejected manuscript
…and reliable system for the peer review of data. Trevor Lane on behalf of the COPE Education Subcommittee Read