- News
Guest editorial: the challenge of AI chatbots for journal editors
…burstiness measures sentence variability, which is generally lower in AI-generated text than that written by a human. Even if the extremely low false-positive rate claimed by the GPTZero author is true, its use might be controversial. Proofreading software is also problematic; the use of modern proofreading software (e.g. Grammarly, PerfectIt, ProWritingAid, etc.) results in increased perplexity ( - Case
What involvement should a journal have in a dispute about an article published in the journal?
…public domain. They were encouraged to talk to each other directly. We received the response article from the concerned scholar outlining his points of contention, which was intended for publication with the understanding that the original author would be given an opportunity to reply if he chose (but the scholar would not be offered space for a further rejoinder). We provided the original… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
…advisor had felt that this would not be a suitable counterweight if the concerns about the existing papers were valid. The second option is an extension of the first, and would be to issue an Expressions of Concern, which would represent a stronger editorial position, and could address the reservations expressed by the independent advisor. Third, if the publisher felt that the issues identified… - News
Where next in peer review? Part 2: COPE commentary
…proportion of submitted papers based simply on the first few hundred words of the submission. This may not in itself be an issue (many human reviewers can at least guess at authors’ identities, after all), but it becomes more sinister if an AI tool starts to discriminate against certain authors. While human reviewers are also not free from bias, the ‘black box’ nature of most AI models means that such… - News
Artificial intelligence in the news
…literature. This is clearly of particular concern in subjects where public health, legal standing or finance is a concern. There are also potential issues for editors in detecting the use of AI if authors do not declare it: OpenAI is working on a watermark for outputs generated by… - Case
Alleged plagiarism
_ The author was somewhat naïve in using a fictitious letter to start his article, but it was not necessary to declare that it was a device. _ It highlights the problem of mistaking notes taken from published material as the author’s own. _ Contact the institution of the author of Journal A. _ An independent assessment should made. If there are substantive findings, the journal should report… - Case
An unethical ethics committee?
…reviewer could well be right. The reviewer requested an independent investigation and stated that he would inform the General Medical Council about the study if the editor did not. The independent investigator requested the ethics committee correspondence and patient information material. It transpired that the ethics committee, which was responsible for all three trusts, on submission, had recognised… - Case
Authorship dispute
…conflict of interest statement, and an appropriate acknowledgement section. When the revised manuscript was submitted, the covering letter stated that to comply with the requested revisions and with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ definition of authorship, the list of authors had been amended, but that this amendment could be renegotiated if the editorial team considered that… - Case
A case of parallel publication?
…language-only paper more widely, but wonder whether the authors should have been more forthcoming or accurate in their citations and covering letter. We would be grateful if COPE could advise us on the correct course of action in this case, and also provide more general guidance about the acceptability of publishing similar material in multiple languages.… - Case
Potential plagiarism
…without making it clear that they are a quotation, represents intellectual theft. Moreover, it might also be breach of copyright. If the author is a young researcher or his or her first language is not English, then a gentle warning and advice on how to cite (ie, quotation marks and/or reference to the original article) should suffice. Of a senior or experienced researcher, some COPE members take the… - Case
Retraction of the first article in the case of duplicate publication
…journal B and ask the editor for his side of the story. It is possible that the authors are blameless. Even if journal B is not at fault, the editor needs to mark the paper in their journal with a clear notice. Readers should be alerted to what has happened and the advice was to have a notice linked to the article to say that this this paper is one of a duplicate submission, and the first article has… - Case
Confidentiality breach by an associate editor
The authors of a manuscript sent an official complaint to our journal regarding a breach of confidentiality by an associate editor (AE). The authors had been informed by the supervisor of a reviewer of a manuscript. After submission of the review, the reviewer received a confidential email from AE asking whether the favourable recommendation made by the reviewer would have been different if… - Case
Author disagreement regarding article corrections
…could be a way of resolving this issue. It is important that the letter is linked to the original article, so that the two items are permanently linked. If the journal does not have a mechanism for publishing letters to the editor, the journal could use PubMed Commons which enables authors to share opinions about publications in PubMed. In… - Guidelines
Journals’ Best Practices for ensuring consent for publishing medical case reports: guidance from COPE
…information laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 in the USA. Journals should make a blank copy of the form available on their website and require authors to attest that it, or a form that includes all the elements of the form, has been signed by the patient or a proxy. If the patient or proxy has signed a form that differs from the form adopted by… - Discussion documents
Addressing ethics complaints from complainants who submit multiple issues
On occasion a journal may get not one, but a series of complaints from the same source. Complaints may be directed at an author, an editor, or the journal in general. If these complaints turn out to be well founded, investigations should proceed as warranted. However, there are also cases where a complainant makes repeated allegations against a journal, editor, or author that turn out to be… - Seminars and webinars
Image manipulation
…Related COPE resources Image manipulation in a published article COPE flowchart Back to top … - Event
COPE Lightning Talk: Text recycling in research writing
…a journal editor. The webinar is open to COPE members only Questions for the speakers If you have questions for Cary either email your questions to us before the event or ask Cary during the event. - News
Case Discussion: Inconclusive institutional investigation into authorship dispute - university perspective comment
…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 https://publicationethics… - Case
Alleged unauthorized use of data and possible dual publication
…the authors were stating, all data seemed to be in the public domain, but advised him to put his concerns into his review or contact the authors directly, if the reviewer preferred. By the time the reviewer received this reply he had already submitted his review and informed the journal that he also sent his full review to the senior author. The reviewer also pointed out in an email to the… - Forum discussion topics
Predatory publishing: next steps and where do we go from here?
…people who work with systematic reviews in medicine. How should articles from predatory journals that are included in systematic reviews published in legitimate journals be handled? These papers might be affecting the final conclusions. Is COPE considering a flowchart on predatory publishing, and if so, would predatory conferences, videos, and other derivatives be included? IAP (