- 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… - 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… - Case
The reviewer writes comments that he doesn’t want the author to see
…entirely clear whether they want comments that can be passed directly to authors, comments that are only for them or a combination of the two?… - 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… - Case
Living unrelated (commercial) organ transplant
…publication, is acceptable from the scientific point of view. Can it be accepted on ethical grounds? By publishing this article, is the editor giving publicity to a practice which most condemn?… - 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 Submitted
…meetings is specific to the particular case under consideration and may not necessarily be applicable to similar cases either past or future. COPE accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused or occasioned as a result of advice given by them or by any COPE member. Advice given by COPE and its members is not given for the purposes of court proceedings…- 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… - Event
Second International Congress on Publication Ethics, Shiraz, Iran
The Second International Congress on Publication Ethics will be held in Shiraz, Iran, on 4–5 December 2014. This is a scientific partnership between COPE and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All individuals working in the field of scientific medical publications as well as those interested in ethical approaches to scientific publications are welcome to attend. For more details and… - Case
Redundant publication
There is no problem in using the same samples for different assays, but it is very important to be explicit. The head of the institution should be informed: non-disclosure is always a reason to inform the head of the author’s institution. This should have been one paper. A statement of redundancy should be published in all three journals and the authors should be blacklisted but the… - Case
Should we retract a published paper with a high similarity match?
…between the two papers is within its standard, the editors may still want to consider whether there is sufficient originality in the 2022 article to merit publication, or whether it constitutes either duplication or salami slicing, both of which are regarded as unethical practices. It may be beneficial to focus on the integrity of the article/s themselves. The percentage match rate should be… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: June 2022
…src="/files/council/dan-kulp-90x90.png" style="margin: 3px 9px; float: left; width: 90px; height: 90px;" />Dan Kulp, COPE Chair Read COPE Digest newsletter, June 2022, in which we launch the paper mills research report with STM and invite you to join the discussion on Dealing with complaints about the integrity of… - Case
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… - Case
Confidentiality and conflict of interest
…The persons surveyed were given assurance that the views expressed would remain unattributed and that the information gathered would be for research purposes only. The reviewer asked the editor to put the article on hold until he clarified whether or not the publication of part of the research findings would be acceptable,given the confidentiality agreements undertaken. What should the editor do… - Case
Institutions paying authors to be named on papers
Some academic institutions are paying authors for the name of the institution to be included in the manuscript so that the institution has an increased number of publications in a given year. The institution gives the author payment and the author terms it as ‘funding’ or ‘grant’, which is not the case. The author publishes the research article in a journal with two affiliations and explains… - Event
COPE Forum: Thursday 3 March 2022
…Forum agenda On 3 March 2022 the COPE Forum will be held at 11:00-12:30pm (GMT / UTC) 1. Update on COPE activities by the Chair. 2. Forum discussion topic. We begin the COPE Forum with a discussion on the topic of Editorial conflicts of interest. 3. New…