- Case
Data fabrication, lack of ethical approval, withdrawal of paper and publication in another journal
This query refers to a clinical trial comparing two forms of treatment which has since been published in another journal. I originally received this manuscript in 2009. One of the referees alerted me to the fact that the data looked strange. Furthermore, the test and controls groups were perfectly distributed, which is almost impossible. Along with the usual requests for modifications, I… - Case
What extent of plagiarism demands a retraction versus correction?
A short research article described a new method and tested the method, showing proof-of-concept that the method worked; the idea for the method is presented as the authors’ own. On publication, the paper receives an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. Shortly after publication, the editorial team is contacted by a PhD student and their supervisor who had published the id… The COPE Case Taxonomy
…and 100 keywords and is designed to be descriptive not judgemental. All the cases in COPE’s database were recoded and all new cases are being coded according to the new taxonomy (up to two classifications, denoting the main topics discussed, and 10 keywords can be assigned per case). It is important to note that classification and keyword coding denotes that a topic was raised and discussed,…- News
Letter from the COPE Chair: April 2020
…individuals. For some, COVID-19 brings more work while others find themselves with time to spare. Some journals will see increased submissions while others will see a drop. Many researchers may be operating almost normally; with more free time—often confined to home—researchers may take advantage to reflect on their work and may be - Case
Repetitive duplicate submission to multiple journals and redundant publication
…submitted to J8, J2, and J7. J2 contacted J8 about possible duplicate submission. J8 rejected MsD based on reviewer reports and also added a note to the author informing them that there had been a report of possible duplicate submission with their Ms. The abstract of MsD has been found to be identical to the abstract of an article published in June 2005 in J10 with the exception of two… - Case
Breach of peer review confidentiality
This case concerns a submitted review article that proposes a new theory in a field of research where there are two polarised positions. The original manuscript (R0) underwent peer review and was returned with reports indicating a major revision, which took several months. On submission of the revision, one of the reviewers from the previous round was asked to re-review. That reviewer (r… - Case
Possible self-plagiarism and/or prior publication
In October 2014 it came to our attention via one of the reviewers of a manuscript submitted to our journal that an identical article (100% identical) had been previously published on the website of the author. The submitting author had not made us aware in their submission documentation that the article had been publicly available on their website at the point of submission. Two different but r… - Case
Institution refuses to investigate scientific issues
A publisher was alerted to possible issues with band duplication in an article (more than 10 years old) by a reader. The corresponding author was contacted to resolve the issue. The author was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the bands, and because of the age of the article, the original data were no longer available. The institution was asked to investigate; a summary of the… Common ethical and editorial dilemmas of author misconduct: how should we respond?
…"Evidence of misconduct" "Probably no misconduct" Not applicable 1997 16 11 0 5 1998 33 30 2 1 1999 27 20 3 4 2000 32 26 6…- News
Guest article: Avoiding predatory publishers
…because all the translations have been provided by volunteer researchers and librarians. Think.Check.Submit. exists because of the support of nine industry organizations - Case
Inappropriate authorship on students paper
A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study which was a final year student's project was submitted as an original article to our journal on 30 April 2011. On initial review it was obvious that it was conducted by students and written by them, but the list of authors had the supervisor as the first author, followed by 13 students. The supervisor, who was also the corresponding author, wa… - Case
Meta-analysis: submission of unreliable findings
A meta-analysis was conducted of about 1000 patients included in a number of small trials of a drug for emergency management administered by route X compared with route Y. The report concluded that administration by route X improves short term survival. Chronology The paper was submitted to our journal in September 2011 and after peer review was retur… - Case
Requesting authorship after publication
To support a recommendation to publish a correction listing Dr H in an acknowledgment (not as an author), the editors sent the institution the following post from Retraction Watch, which describes a similar situation. The institution agreed with this… - Case
Ethics and consent in research
…attention. Her tests were repeated again one and two years later. The two year test indicated more severe disease. These findings were reported to her 10 months later by one of the researchers who failed to mention their significance in his cover letter to the radiologist’s report. Given the patient’s history, she should have been removed from work immediately, and the researchers should have reported this… - Case
What involvement should a journal have in a dispute about an article published in the journal?
Our journal published a manuscript as part of an editors’ forum which, as an invited forum paper, received reviewer feedback but did not follow our usual double-blind peer review standard for regular submissions (the reviewers were aware of the author’s identity but the author did not know the identity of the reviewers). Following the publication of this article, the editor-in-chief rece… - News
Guest editorial: Data availability statements
…responsibility lies with authors and editors to be aware of such relevant regulations at the time of publication to be articulated in the DAS. The inclusion of a DAS in articles should promote actual data sharing, recognizing that data sharing is a fundamental step towards increasing the reproducibility and trustworthiness of science. However, as indicated by Ian… - Case
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…even a research type letter, the authors could remove the affected material and references, without referring to the retracted papers. If the letters cite the papers in the context of journalology, or criticise the same issues that underlie later retraction, it could be argued the letters could stay, with an explanatory editorial note (see for example - Forum discussion topics
Ethical considerations around book publishing
…href="https://publicationethics.org/events/cope-forum-tuesday-23-march">publication ethics cases will be presented for discussion and advice from the Forum participants. Register to attend the Forum, Tuesday 23 March, 2-3.30pm (GMT). The Forum takes place by webinar and is available to COPE members only. --> Your comments Anyone… - Forum discussion topics
Peer review models
…introduction to the COPE Forum discussion on the topic "Peer review models" with COPE Council Member, Patrick Franzen. COPE Forum discussion Peer review sits at the core of scholarly publishing.… - Case
Lack of ethical approval and not reporting experimental evidence
In May 2011 a letter from the Vice-Rector for Personnel of a reputable university was sent to the editor mentioning that two articles published in the journal contained two statements not supported by documented evidence. The two statements related to: (1) approval of the local ethics committee and (2) representation of the experimental evidence. With regard to point (1), the authors sta…