- News
COPE Forum 3 February: Register & agenda
Taking part in the Forum allows members to contribute to, as well as learn from, the cases being discussed. Register now as the Forum is limited to 100 attendees. Deadline to register: Thursday 2 February Register 4pm Forum 4 - 5.30pm GMT Authorship and AI tools
…COPE position statement The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT or Large Language Models in research publications is expanding rapidly. COPE joins organisations, such as WAME and the JAMA Network among others, to state that AI tools cannot be…- News
Vacancies on COPE Trustee Board
Date for applications has now closed. We are seeking applications for two vacancies* on the COPE Trustee Board at an exciting time for the organisation as we look to expand into new areas. We have therefore highlighted gaps on the Trustee Board which we are keen to fill. *On this occasion, we are NOT seeking to elect candidates from North America given… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: November 2019
…/>COPE Chair Deborah Poff Read November Digest newsletter with a focus on Ethical Oversight and a discussion exploring the ethics of routine antenatal care in… - News
Update on COPE guidance regarding author name changes
…trans authors, who are most impacted by the current processes and practices.. If you have any feedback either about this topic or the editorial, please submit a general enquiry. Rachel L. Safer, COPE Council Related article… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: January 2021
…We wish you all a safe and healthy beginning to the year, and look forward to engaging with you in 2021. COPE Chair Deborah Poff, CM,PhD - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: March 2021
…src="/files/u7140/deborahpoff1%20%283%29.jpg" style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px; float:left; height:121px; margin:3px; width:90px" />COPE Chair Deborah Poff, CM,PhD… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: April 2022
…of the workshops, and they intend to release the report soon. Dan Kulp, COPE Chair COPE Digest newsletter: April 2022 In our latest guest article, find out more about a project to detect… - Case
Authorship dispute
…interpretation. Dr B wishes to have this published article withdrawn. QuestionWhat should the editor of journal X do?… - Case
Two reviewer reports contain a significant amount of verbatim textual overlap
…expressions (common in … but unusual in English) appear in both of our reviews”. Questions for the COPE Forum(1) Should the editor-in-chief rely on the reports of the two reviewers?(2) Should the editor-in-chief invite in the future the two researchers to review other submissions in the field?… - Case
A case with no independent institution to investigate
…an institutional investigation. However, in the absence of an independent institution that we could ask to investigate, we are seeking advice from the forum on how to proceed once we receive author B's explanation. Question(s) for the COPE Forum (1) In the absence of an independent institution, how do the Forum suggest we proceed once we receive… - Case
Possible omission of information essential for conclusions in a research paper
…acknowledged that this information might impact on the statistical calculations and thus the conclusions of the paper. But with the data available to him, he is not able to make a definitive assessment of how much impact it would have. He has suggested to put these questions to the authors of the 2013 paper. Question(s) for the COPE Forum The researcher who raised the concern has… - Case
Author disagreement blocks submission
…employment. A web search by the editor found several entries on author A, none of which was indicative of a current academic position. Author A’s email to the editor was from a non-institutional provider (gmail). The paper reports important work, in which human subjects volunteered to participate. It would, therefore, be very unfortunate for it not to be published. Question(s) for the COPE… - Case
Revoked parental consent
…before the issue was to be folioed, the parents contacted the authors and revoked consent. The journal was able to pull the article prior to publication. The editorial board is concerned about this happening again and what the course of action would be if consent is withdrawn from a case that has already been published. Question(s) for the COPE Forum• Once written consent is… - Case
Ethics committee approval
…provided by the authors). The journal receives two such studies, one from country A and one from country B. Neither has ethics committee approval. The authors of both manuscripts claim that their studies do not need approval. Question(s) for the COPE Forum• What should best editorial practice be in this situation? —Accept both papers for review. —Accept the paper from… - Case
Duplicate publication and removal of article
…Question(s) for the COPE Forum• Should journal A publish an ‘Expression of concern’ to highlight the duplicate publication in the past. However, the article in journal B is no longer available. Perhaps a comment in the comments system of journal A would suffice? COPE does not seem to have clear guidelines in one place on how and when to use Expressions of concern (although we appreciate… - Case
Author impersonating corresponding author without knowledge of coauthors
…there are mistakes in the article and that the co-authors disagree with some of the viewpoints in the article. The editor plans to investigate, if necessary with support from the universities, to establish whether the published article is scientifically flawed, and is reviewing what the appropriate action should be to address the authorship situation described. Question(s) for the… - Case
Inability to contact an author to obtain permission to publish
…Question(s) for the COPE Forum• As the publisher of the journal where authors B, C, D and E wish the article to be published, would it be acceptable to publish the paper with a full statement about the authors’ contributions to the article, and the fact that authors B, C, D and E have not been able to contact A? Thus there would be complete transparency. … - Case
Reviewer concerns about transparency of peer review process
…publication of an article”. Question(s) for the COPE Forum• What are the benefits of going to fully transparent review, with publication of the content of peer reviews?• We are aware of the risks (eg, reviewers feeling inhibited from making critical comments for fear of reprisal). Do the benefits outweigh the risks? …