Seminars
…href="/files/u661/COPE_seminar_programme_2010_final.pdf">Download PDF [32 kb] of the seminar programme) Plagiarism in the electronic age – Presented by Harold Sox, Dartmouth Medical School and the Dartmouth Institute Download PDF [2 mb] (uploaded 13 May 2010) Cultural differences in plagiarism – Presented by Vasiliy Vlassov,…- News
When the peer review process goes sideways
…peer review issues they face. New and updated cases from the August COPE Forum are now available and you can read the monthly update on news, collated by COPE Council members, and events that you may be interested in.… - News
In the news: November Digest
…discussions Have libel challenges by researchers dissuaded journals from calling out misconduct. Two former chairs of COPE disagree, suggesting that if anything research institutions and journals are becoming more detailed in their investigations, which may lead to perceptions of slowness in response. - Case
Simultaneous publication
August 2008 The case is being investigated by the author’s institution. May 2009 As mentioned in the last update to this case, this case was being investigated by the authors’ institution. A response was received from a Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President of the university. According to this letter, the investigation group consisted of… - Case
Data fabrication, lack of ethical approval, withdrawal of paper and publication in another journal
…such possible misconduct. Essentially the complexity lies in the triangle between two journals and two institutions as well as in the possibility that two aspects may be wrong: the ethics and the data. The change in authorship for the same manuscript in the two submissions is also significant. Even though the paper was withdrawn from my journal, should I pursue the matter with the relevant officers… - Case
Reviewer requests to be added as an author after publication
…the retraction. The new paper would have to be considered as a new submission and should be reviewed by a new set of reviewers. It was noted that a recent issue of The Lancet (31 January 2015) contained a re-published article that had originally been retracted. There was also a linked commentary explaining what had happened. It was suggested that the editor may wish to use this as a model if he… - Case
Lead author of a research paper disagrees with content of a linked editorial
…article has been peer-reviewed. The editorial can be peer-reviewed by the reviewers of the original article, or it may be appropriate to use different reviewers if the piece is very critical of the original article. In summary, the editors should manage the expectations of the authors by having guidelines in place for their process of issuing press releases and how they alert authors, along with… - Case
Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute
…journal plans to issue an Expression of Concern about the authorship dispute, pending an investigation by the institution. This may encourage the authors to come to an agreement. … - Case
Using the name of a scientific society inappropriately
…authors, publishing an expression of concern right away would be appropriate. COPE views editors as stewards of the literature, so if the literature is now misleading then in needs to be corrected. If the paper purports to be from representatives of two learned societies, the leadership of both societies should be brought into the picture, as the paper may misrepresent one if not both society's… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
…not unique to Special Issues. Editors may wish to consider how far they should facilitate a platform for these views, as long as they are not dangerous. However, the case does also illustrate some of the problems seen with Special Issues, and the potential (even when proper processes are followed) for them to be used by groups with a particular agenda. As well as vetting guest editors, it… New UK Panel for Research Integrity
…advice, and the guidelines will provide a framework. But specifics may not be covered, so organisations will need access to expert advice, should they need it. It's important to strike the right balance. The advisory role recognises that the primary responsibility rests with employers to take action, so that must not be undermined. We will establish a panel of…- News
Artificial intelligence in the news
…may be a great leveller for authors who lack skills or confidence in academic English and assist those with learning disabilities. Prohibiting access to assistive or adaptive technologies may have human rights implications. More unpalatable is the evidence of hateful content and bias in the data used to train these tools. OpenAI have tried to deal with this by - News
Case Discussion: Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute
…the editor in the same position. A common thread through similar cases where an institutional investigation is not available or is inadequate is the need to escalate the case to a regional or national authority if one is available. That was the advice in this case. Editors may not know who to contact in some cases, which was the subject of a recent article in the November Digest ( - News
Reflections on the COPE North American Seminar 2019
Reflections on the COPE North American Seminar: Issues of inclusivity and diversity in scholarly publishing in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. COPE’s first seminar of the year was held on Friday 3 May 2019 in Philadelphia. The theme for the event was issues of inclusivity and diversity in scholarly publishing in the arts, humanities, and social sciences… - News
In the news: December 2020
…href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2020/11/02/there-is-no-truth-there-is-only-workflow/" target="_blank">importance of fact checking in scholarly publishing - books and journal articles - as well as in journalism. She notes that the "absolute truth may be elusive" given that the state of knowledge is consistently evolving but that we are obligated to reveal and refine the processes we use to work towards knowledge. Peer review Shawna Williams explored the idea… - Event
COPE 25th anniversary seminar, 2022
…distribution, and personnel and financial management of journals. #C0PE25 - News
Letter from the COPE Vice-Chair: December 2022
…not a statutory or regulatory body and cannot ‘force’ a member to take a particular course of action. COPE does have a sanctions process but this would only be instigated as a last resort in responding to egregious behaviour by members, and only after failed remediation attempts. NOTE:… - Case
Meta-analysis: submission of unreliable findings
…returned to the authors for revision in November 2011. In the letter sent to the authors, the editor stated: “Before coming to a final decision on your paper we will need to see your responses to our referees' comments. We will also need you to discuss the preliminary results of the large randomised controlled trial (RCT) recently presented at a national meeting which conflict with and may… - Case
Authorship dispute
…after author A left the research collaboration. Further questions to COPE: Author B stated that author A committed plagiarism and requested that the paper must be retracted. There is considerable evidence that plagiarism may have occurred by author A. What would the COPE suggest we do?… - Case
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…say. The editor could write a forward to this, outlining what was done and why the letters are being published as part of a debate around the issues involving the retraction. The journal’s policy is clear that they may decide to change the acceptance decision in exceptional circumstances. The journal might consider updating their policies or having their own code of conduct, based on…