- Seminars and webinars
Image manipulation
… Back to top Image fraud, beautification, and genuine errors Rapid changes in technology in… United2Act launches action against paper mills
…href="https://www.stm-assoc.org/">More information about STM Further information Please contact: Sarah Gillmore, Engagement and Outreach Officer Follow us on Twitter: @C0PE …- 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Parallels between unpublished manuscript and a published article from other authors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… - Case
Duplicate publication in possibly four papers
This case involves four manuscripts. Three of the manuscripts were originally published in another language and then published in our English language journal. There is overlap in the authors who were involved in all four manuscripts. The first and second manuscripts were duplicated publications from another journal. The evidence is very clear. The papers were published in another countr… - Case
Unresponsive authors delaying publication
The journal received a submission which proceeded through peer review and was recommended for publication. The authors responded to the revision letter, providing a detailed itemised list of changes and revised their manuscript accordingly. The revised manuscript was subsequently accepted for publication. The normal process for articles in this journal is that when papers are accepted a… - Case
Deceased author and author delaying publication
The journal accepted a manuscript for publication with two authors. One of the authors died before signing the copyright. This manuscript is now ready for galley proof approval from the surviving author. Proofs were sent to the surviving author and the author who died as normal because the production editor assigned to this manuscript did not know that one of the authors had died. After… - Case
Authorship dispute involving a commercial institution
A paper was published in a journal. After publication, an associate editor of the journal said that they and other colleagues should have been authors on the paper. They cited a patent they helped write that overlapped with the article as proof that they should be authors on the paper. The authors of the paper refuse to add the associate editor and colleagues as authors. Unfortuna… - 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,… Projects Funded
…href="https://www.wcri2010.org/index.asp">Second World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore, 21-24 July 2010, where we plan to start the Delphi process for discussing the definitions of authorship across scientific disciplines. Research on the authorship/publication practices of editors in their own journal has been completed and the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Details of the published article will…- 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
COPE at COMPARE Life Sciences Workshop on Authorship, UK
…href="https://publicationethics.org/authorship"> authorship and contributorship.QUT resources on authorship and publication. Elizabeth Moylan, Chair, Education subcommittee… - Webform
COPE peer review workshop 2020
Registration is now closed as the workshop is full Peer review workshop Thursday 24 September 2020, 4.00pm - 5.15pm (BST), online workshop (COPE Members only) This year's Peer Review Week is dedicated to 'Trust in peer review'. Peer Review… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2021
…legitimate for an editor to modify a reviewer’s comments. It also gives guidance on the level of editing and editing procedure which will support consistent, fair, and transparent editing practices. Peer Review Week, 20–24 September, is upon us once again. This year’s theme is the “multifaceted role of identity in peer review”. I’m sure many of you… - Seminars and webinars
Introduction to publication ethics and the COPE ethics toolkit
…100%; } .embedtool .fluid-vids {position: initial !important} /*-->*/ /*-->*/ Back to… - Seminars and webinars
Ethical concerns in research on urbanisation: perspectives from the Global South
…/*-->*/ /*-->*/ Back to top Collaborative research agenda Focusing on urban studies… - 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: October 2020
…href="https://publicationethics.org/publishers-perspective-paper-mills">publisher perspective that describes collective actions required to help address these issues. Finally, my congratulations to Michal Tal-Socher and Adrian Ziderman, authors of a paper funded by a COPE research grant. Their paper, Data sharing policies in scholarly publications: interdisciplinary comparisons, has been…