- News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: January 2019
…px; height: 125px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; float: left;" /> Read January 2019 COPE Digest newsletter and use the COPE Audit Tool, read a case discussion on citation manipulation, get dates in the diary for COPE events in 2019, and keep… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2015:Altmetrics in practice: where are they being used
…Download presentation: Altmetrics in practice: where are they being used (and misused)? [PDF, 2500KB]… - Case
How many “mistakes” are too many?
We published a randomised trial by six authors. Some years later, we received a letter from a researcher who had been looking into the trial in the context of a meta-analysis. She noted “implausibilities of serious concern”, including “a highly unusual balance in the distribution of baseline characteristics”, 95% CIs that were non-symmetrical about the effect estimate, and use of… - Case
Can two DOIs be assigned to the same manuscript?
A preprint server owned by a commercial publishing company posted a paper and assigned a DOI to the preprint. The manuscript was then submitted to peer reviewed journal X, owned by a different publisher. Assuming acceptance at the journal, can the article be published under a different DOI belonging to journal X? At journal X, Crossref registration is automatic. However, can two… - News
In the news: February 2022
…conference with >1300 attendees from >80 countries in December, free of charge, that explored DEI issues, discoverability of research from areas outside Europe and North America, Research Integrity among other topics. Recorded content will be made available. DORA listed their own, and other organisations' progress in 2021 toward the - Case
Suspicion that signed informed consent forms are forged
…for educative purposes. The editors should also consider whether there is enough evidence to suggest research misconduct, in which case the authors’ institution should be informed (in neutral terms, with the authors potentially copied). The editors may find COPE’s guidance on - Case
Should this paper be retracted?
…correspondence to Journal Y, along with a document highlighting the similarities between the final article and data obtained in the laboratory. After this first claim, three authors listed in the paper published online by journal Y requested to be retracted from the author list, claiming they were not informed about the publication. Journal Y reviewed their peer review process and was unable to identify any… - News
A vision for a more trans-inclusive publishing world: guest article
…names per request does not pose any novel indexing challenge, and can and should be seamlessly rectified in this digital age. Back to top Author bios Theresa Jean Tanenbaum (“Tess”) Theresa Tanenbaum is an… - Case
Request for removal for one author but a coauthor cannot be reached
A journal accepted a paper but after receiving the decision letter, the corresponding author asked if one of the coauthors could be removed from the authorship list. This coauthor is now a prominent politician and felt that their new role would conflict with being an author on the paper. The journal informed the corresponding author that they would need written confirmation from… - News
In the news: January 2021
…data sharing statements, misuse of open access data, and issues of equity in open science. Preprints eLife, starting in July 2021 will publish only papers that have previously been posted on a preprint server, changing their model to be an organisation "that reviews and certifies papers that have already been… - News
Post-publication discussions and corrections focus
…--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read November Digest: Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections. This issue of Digest announces new resources What to do if you Suspect Image Manipulation in a Published… - Case
Fabricated illness: a case that cannot be published under current guidance
…material. The carer admitted to deliberately contaminating the samples to achieve a positive test. While this condition is well described, it has not been identified by karyotyping in this way before. This probably accounted for us being slow to diagnose it. There are extremely important reasons for diagnosing fabricated illnesses. Unsurprisingly, the carer was not prepared to give consent… - Case
Dual publication may be necessary in some situations
At a recent editorial board meeting it was suggested that in some disciplines straddling several specialties, transparent simultaneous publication might be necessary. It was suggested that this applies to sexually transmitted infections, and different readers may not have access to each other’s journals. For example, in a study of human papilloma virus epidemiologists, virologists, STD… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Ethical authorship versus fraudulent authorship
…!important} /*-->*/ /*-->*/ Back to top Introduction - Case
Retraction notices: Who (if anyone) should be listed as author?
Publisher A has been developing an internal publisher style guide for retraction notices, but has not been able to find any obvious industry best practice when it comes to whether retractions should have an author byline, and if yes, who should be listed. Some retractions have no authors listed; others give 'The Editors of Journal X' as the author byline (in cases of retraction owing to author… - Case
“I was acknowledged but I should be an author”
A person named in the acknowledgements of a paper wrote to the editor indicating that they had been in part responsible for the analysis and interpretation of the data and should therefore be named as an author. I have had extensive correspondence (copies of emails, etc.) from both parties and spoken to both on the telephone. Clearly, earlier there had been an exchange of data between… - News
European Association of Science Editors - Short Course February 2011 - How to be a successful journal editor
EASE (European Association of Science Editors) is hosting Pippa Smart's How To Be A Successful Journal Editor course on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 February 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. Pippa Smart will run her very popular course at the National Cancer Centre in Warsaw, kindly hosted by Edward Towpik. More information about course content can be found here: http://www.pspconsulting.org/journals.shtml… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2022: Relationship between universities and publishers
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Dispute over submitted comment and the right to be forgotten
Some time after publishing a paper, a journal received a comment highlighting serious issues with the methods reported, and claiming that the conclusions could not be trusted. The comment was 13 pages long and rather technical in nature, so it was peer reviewed. The journal contacted the authors to respond to the comment but they replied that they wished instead to completely…