- Case
Withdrawal of acceptance based on potentially unconsented data
…COPE's core practices, in relation to submissions. In hindsight, perhaps the letters should not have been accepted during the investigation but rather put on hold first; a relevant office policy or process could be developed to prevent this in the future. It is also commendable that the journal has a statement on the consent from guardians/parents of children; the journal might wish to include… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Driving diversity, equity, and inclusion to shape the future of publication ethics
A summary of recent COPE activities in the area of diversity and equity, followed by three talks giving great insights, guidance and practical advice on collecting diversity data from publishing activity, creating diverse and representative editorial boards, and managing allegations of discriminatory behaviour. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are… - Forum discussion topics
Claiming institutional affiliations
…assessment and university ranking systems, as well as national accreditation systems, put demands on institutions and researchers to boost publication productivity. This has led to an increasing practice of inflating the number of affiliations claimed by an author on their publications, which is not solely due to increased research collaboration or mobility. Journals and research institutions… - Case
Duplicate submission, overlap of papers, and a referenced paper that was not in press
…authors highlighting what “good practice” is—that is, declaring submissions elsewhere and emphasising the difference between a paper that has simply been submitted, and one that is “in press. ”… - Case
Order of authors changing between a submitted manuscript and a published paper
…was the order the submitting author had specified. The paper had been in preliminary form for over four weeks. The journal’s practice is to send an acknowledgement at submission to all authors. Papers are published on the same day as acceptance or shortly thereafter. This is the citation that PubMed picks up for indexing. The finalised html version is then posted a few days later. The journal now… - Case
An accusation of racism
…complied with good practice. - Tell the author that the journal does have a policy of encouraging scientifically sound international papers, and that the paper received due process. - Tell the author that the paper had been rejected on scientific grounds only, and that the journal had adhered to its procedures and principles, which had been confirmed by an independent ombudsman. Copy in COPE on the… - Case
Plagiarism in a review article
A review article was spontaneously submitted and sent out to three peer reviewers, which is standard practice for the journal. One of these reviewers expressed “serious concerns” about the paper. In a telephone conversation, s/he explained that the structure (headings, subheadings, etc), large “chunks of the text,” and most of the references had been plagiarised from a teaching syllabus that… - Case
Possible case of fraud
…suspicions regarding the paper, that may be sufficient warning for them. Other advice was to contact the reviewer explaining that it is not good practice to compare notes with other investigators as such material should be treated as confidential.… - Case
Publisher and stakeholder with misaligned conflict of interest policies
We have recently developed and begun to put into practice a policy on collection and declaration of conflicts of interest statements from any individual involved in contributing to or reviewing our pathways. This policy includes members of our editorial team, and contributor and reviewer members from our stakeholder groups. We have devised a standard form to collect these statements in… - Case
Publication of data without permission
A director of an institute in France has expressed concern about a paper published in our journal. One of the authors (not the corresponding author) of the paper, person A, visited his laboratory in France for 5 months in 2009 to carry out some work. The director says that some methods used and results obtained in his laboratory have now been included in the paper without his knowledge or permi… - Case
Authors used pseudonyms on a published article
…that was in contradiction to the regime's position. However, in any such circumstance the editors have to have assurance about the identity of the authors. To encourage better practice, COPE would recommend the journal have a policy that papers will only be accepted when the identities of the authors are confirmed, and these will be used in publication unless a case for… - Case
Comments linked to retracted papers
…a particular paper, and one that is about a wider topic and is more like a mini review. They may accompany a paper or might be standalone and in a different issue. How the commentary relates to the published paper (eg, extent or message, sentiment, purpose) would matter. If the commentary is only about the now retracted paper and is mostly positive about its contribution to the field and its practical… - Case
Duplicate submission and request for withdrawal
A paper was submitted to journal A and received a ‘revision’ decision. At some point following this decision, the authors emailed the journal to request withdrawal, citing inconsistencies in their data and subsequent conclusions. A search of the literature showed that the same paper (with the same authors) was published in journal B the day before the withdrawal request. Clearly, the authors wa… - Case
Suspicious responses to authorship change requests
A journal received a request for multiple changes to the authorship list after the manuscript was accepted. Originally, there were five co-authors. After acceptance, the journal received the following requests from author A, the corresponding author and co-first author: remove one of the co-authors (author D), add a new co-author (author E), reorder the list of authors, and change the designate… - Case
Submission of article by ghost author
A corresponding author and two coauthors submitted a paper to our journal. The article was published after due process of reviewing etc. After publishing the paper, a student contacted us to say that the paper was totally derived from their Master's thesis. The journal's Research Ethics Committee heard the case and it was confirmed that the paper had been extracted from the thesis. All the auth… - Case
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
…place or not, and therefore whether to correct or retract the article. Editors may also feel uncomfortable applying current expectations and practices to articles produced some time ago. While there is no expiry period for an investigation or retraction, therefore, journals should make a decision on their actions on a case by case basis, and be honest about the limits of what they can do. If necessary… - News
Letter from COPE Vice-Chair: February 2020
…virus is key to saving lives. Please stay safe, especially our colleagues in areas hit hardest. Best regards, COPE Vice-Chair Daniel Kulp - Case
Unusual consent process in a vulnerable population
…trial report submitted to the journal, the researchers justified bypassing the parents as follows: "some children could be excluded from participating in the study and hence disadvantaged from receiving treatment if their parents/guardians did not give consent." The editors feel that the parents themselves would have been best placed to assess the relative risks and benefits of allowing their child to… - Case
Author misconduct
…decide if the best way of setting the record straight is to retract or correct. If he feels that only the figure is incorrect, but the rest of the paper is reliable, then he should publish a correction. However, if the editor has more serious concerns, they he should consider retracting the paper. The Forum suggested that as the institution is involved, the editor should ask the institution if… - Forum discussion topics
What does peer review mean in the arts, humanities and social sciences?
…the language problems. Where there is research involving indigenous populations or communities, editors should check to see that indigenous institutional review boards (IRBs) or community IRBs have been involved in approving the research. Many editors are unaware that native IRBs exist. This applies to research and to descriptions of practices or traditions, for example. The research and…