- Case
Previous publication cannot be verified
…and perhaps marketing/exposure. The legal one is clearly the question of copyright ownership, and that can only be resolved by contact with the company’s lawyers. The publisher may be able to do some more work to find out details of the in-house journal. The company itself still exists and an approach could be made to corporate headquarters and its publicity relations department for further… - Case
Duplicate publication in a predatory journal
…predatory journal may never take down the article, blocking the work from publication in a legitimate journal. Questions for COPE Council Should the paper be rejected from the journal, or put on hold until the issue is resolved with the predatory journal? How should the journal proceed if the predatory journal refuses/ignores the authors' request to take down the… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: April 2020
COPE, like many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus. There is worldwide concern over COVID-19 and its impact on our daily lives, both personal and professional. Journal editors may be unsure of what to do in this unprecedented situation. How is COVID-19 affecting editors and publishers? Circumstances will differ for different regions, disciplines, journals and… - News
UNITED2ACT Summit
Nature has published a report on the UNITED2ACT Summit held in May and organised by COPE and STM. Stakeholders from across the research integrity spectrum gathered to discuss solutions to the paper mill problem. “It was the first time we had a group of people come together and co-create a set of actions which… Code of conduct for COPE meetings and events
…conduct or participating in an investigation of a claim. Any other conduct deemed inappropriate and/or that may jeopardise the success of the meeting or related event, COPE’s reputation and goodwill, or the positive experience of any other attendee. Anyone requested to cease unacceptable behaviour will be expected to comply immediately.- Case
Potentially fake academic affiliation
…address belonged to a residency in State X, country Y. The telephone number provided with the manuscript did not work. The senior author listed the institute address using three different cities and mistaking the abbreviations for two different states (suggesting they may not be familiar with the country they claimed to be based in). The address given is listed with… - Discussion documents
Responding to anonymous whistleblowers, January 2013
…feedback on it. We may post the responses on our website and may revise the document in response Request for guidance from COPE There are now many hundreds or possibly even thousands of anonymous email requests that have been sent to editors insisting that they investigate a case of alleged plagiarism within their journal, which usually are claimed to have been detected… - News
COPE Competition!
Can you sum up COPE in a single phrase? We're looking for a new slogan for our homepage. Can you suggest something better than 'Helping journals to get their houses in order'? If we get lots of good suggestions we may ask members to vote on them. There's no prize except the chance to know your creative talents have contributed to our website! Click on the link below to submit your suggestion.… - Case
Suspected unattributed text in a published article
The editor told the Forum that she had checked the articles and the degree of overlap of text was nearly 20%. The Forum warned that percentages can be misleading, and the editor needs to look carefully at where the overlap occurred (in the introduction and methods may be fine, but it can be more problematic in the results or conclusion sections). The institution(s) may need to be… - Case
Author accused of sexual harassment
…="https://web.archive.org/web/20211105032210/https://retractionwatch.com/2021/08/04/should-journals-retract-when-an-author-is-sent-to-prison-for-a-crime-unrelated-to-their-work/">similar issue on Retraction Watch: Discussions on how to handle this and similar cases touch on the frequent lack of definite evidence or the fact that formal cases may still be open or being appealed. Those accused, whether formally or informally, may… - Case
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
What should a journal do if an old (more than 15 years old) published paper is flagged on PubPeer for image concerns, but the case cannot be resolved due to the time lapsed? For example, if only low quality images are available online that cannot be analysed conclusively; some of the key authors may no longer be contactable; the raw data is no longer available; an institutional investigation… - Case
Is it unethical to reject unregistered (or late-registered) trials?
We would like other editors’ opinions as to whether adhering to the journal’s policy on trial registration may contribute towards the non-publication of trial results (and thus bias in the literature). All of our journals have the same policy on trial registration—for studies started before July 2005, we permit retrospective registration (providing it was done before submission) but for… - Forum discussion topics
Author behavioural misconduct
…harmful or criminal actions by authors or others that do not primarily concern the integrity of the research itself, but which may nevertheless impact the research and publication processes, or the perceptions of the integrity of the individual and their works. Some (e.g. Marin-Spitotta )1 2 have therefore argued that… - News
Vacancies on COPE Trustee Board
…meeting incorporating the Annual General Meeting (AGM), Trustee Board, Council, and Subcommittee meetings. A full day dedicated to strategy is held once every three years. The residential meetings take place every 8 months (January, September, May). It is expected that COPE Trustees will attend all of these meetings. The Trustee Board and Council are comprised of a number of - Case
Revoked parental consent
The case provoked much discussion among the Forum and raised many interesting questions. Do people really understand the full implications of giving consent to publish? Do patients really understand what consent means? Do patients/carers understand that once a paper is published online, it is very difficult to remove it? A journal can take down the paper, but it may have already been… - Case
Removal of an author
A suggestion was to move the missing author to the acknowledgements section with an explanation of what has happened. A note could also be added that the journal was unable to contact this author. There may be reasons why the university is not forthcoming or helpful, but the editor might try and contact someone else at the university who may be willing to provide a little more… - News
COPE response to Science paper submission of fake paper, by Virginia Barbour, on behalf of COPE council
…priorities. What have we learnt?First, that out on the Internet there exist many journals whose peer review is scanty or non-existent. Indeed for many of these journals their editorial processes, reviewer boards and editors may not even exist. That, in other words, the Internet has sites we cannot trust. This is of course not news; as Mike Eisen said in an - Case
Duplicate submission
…portions of the texts of the two manuscripts are identical. No reference is made in either paper to the other submission. The instructions for authors for both journals state that ‘by submitting, corresponding authors confirm that their manuscripts report unpublished work that is not under consideration for publication elsewhere’. The authors may have been unaware that journal A and journal B are now… - Flowcharts
Redundant (duplicate) publication in a published article
… Key points The instructions to authors should state the journal’s policy on redundant publication. Asking authors to sign a statement or tick a box may be helpful in subsequent investigations. ICMJE advises that translations… - News
Case Discussion: Withdrawal of paper at proof stage
…the reason for withdrawal, or if they had discovered a critical error in the paper. Ultimately, authors may ask to withdraw a paper and editors have to honour the request. The journal should review its processes and ensure communications with authors are clear, perhaps making use of COPE’s journal audit tool for members, at