- Case
Reviewer requests to be added as an author after publication
…conflict of interest or request that they should be an author on the paper. The reviewer returned a very good review and along with another two reviews (R2/R3), and after revision (where the revision once again was sent to R1) the paper was accepted and published. A few months later, the journal was approached by another researcher (E1 who is from the same laboratory as R1) who said that… - News
In the news: July & August 2022
…stakeholder groups. Diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility Learned Publishing has issued a call for papers for a special issue on implementing DEIA initiatives. Nature has published an editorial, the first in its history to be signed by guest editors, to… - Seminars and webinars
Good Publication Practice 2022
December 2022 Dr Trevor Lane, COPE Trustee and Council member, was invited to deliver a presentation introducing COPE’s mission and resources at the 2022 Forum on Good Publication Practice, held virtually on 2 December 2022. Hosted by the University of… - News
In the news: January 2019 Digest
…this could be rectified and argues the case for changing the cultural norms to allow this.https://psyarxiv.com/exmb2 COPE Council member Deborah Kahn Read - Case
Attempted dual publication
…X said that the Japanese authors were clearly attempting dual publication, were therefore completely unethical,and should be reprimanded severely. As editor of journal A,what should be done about: 1 The issue of apparently simultaneous submission to two journals? 2 The breach of con?dentiality by expert X (and also expert Y, commissioned by another journal B)?… - Case
Unethical research
We have received a study in which patients with healed duodenal ulcers were randomly allocated to treatment with either placebo or ranitidine. Patients were also categorised as to whether they were type A or type B personality; the hypotheses being tested was that patients who were type A might be more likely to relapse. Patients did not have their H pylori status determined. Subjects… - Case
Retrospective ethical approval?
…ethics committee who would consider giving this retrospectively. A subsequent email from the chairman of the ethics committee to the journal expressed doubt about the value of retrospective approval, pointing out that when a study was reviewed prospectively it was possible to suggest changes to the protocol, which obviously could not be done when it was viewed retrospectively. The chairman added that… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2022: Book wars
…src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JqsKaZ4dtiM?rel=0"> Speaker John B Thompson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. His publications… - Case
Author retracts request to be removed from author list
…data and conducted the analysis. The third and fourth authors (Drs C of University 1 and D of University 2) aided in analysis and write-up. After requesting they be removed as an author, Dr A followed up 5 days later with a second email indicating they wished to withdraw the request. The wider context is that Dr B has been the subject of much attention in the discipline and the media for… - News
In the news: February 2022
…conference with >1300 attendees from >80 countries in December, free of charge, that explored DEI issues, discoverability of research from areas outside Europe and North America, Research Integrity among other topics. Recorded content will be made available. DORA listed their own, and other organisations' progress in 2021 toward the - Case
Plagiarism
COPE was advised that the paper has been rejected. The editor wrote to each of the six authors threatening them with being reported to the dean if their explanations were unsatisfactory. The editor received five replies with four different excuses. The editor was advised to write to the dean of the medical school and include the authors’ replies to the dean too.… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2022: Relationship between universities and publishers
…!important} --> Speakers - News
COPE advice to editors on geopolitical intrusions on editorial decisions
…Update 2022 First released: 10 March 2022 Updated: 29 March 2022 There has been much discussion recently on government sanctions against Russia and the potential effect on Russian researchers. COPE has discussed the issue of geopolitical intrusion into editorial decision making previously in similar situations. COPE's position on this remains as… - Seminars and webinars
Asia-Pacific Seminar 2011: The range of conflicts of interest and how they should be managed
…Download presentation: The range of conflicts of interest and how they should be managed (PDF, 6750KB)… - News
Letter from the COPE Vice-Chair: December 2022
…experienced the energy amongst your work groups generated by a return to in-person meetings, and this was no exception. In this report, I will summarise the key discussions which we hope you will consider. In 2023 we will be conducting a member survey before we start to consider our new strategic plan for 2024 onwards, and we hope that you will keep this in mind when submitting your responses. We will also… - Case
Plagiarism and copyright of material without permission
…electronic and hard copy published papers. It has a Creative Commons permission 3.0 publishing license. All authors submit written copyright forms for their articles before publishing. The CC license requires that an appropriate credit be given, which in this case has not been done. In this case, specifically: 1. All articles in this e-book that were 'stolen' from the journal have no… - Case
Disagreement between a reviewer and an author
The reviewer should be told of the author’s allegations. At a minimum, the reviewer should have revealed his conflict of interest and probably not have reviewed the paper. There is fault on both sides: conflict of interest and redundancy. The reviewer may simply have an interest rather than a conflict of interest. We can not go back to reviewer without the author’s permission. If the… - Event
Forum on Good Publication Practices, University of Macau
15:00 – 17:30 CST Trevor Lane, COPE Council Member, will speak at the Forum which pulls together consensual views on Good Publication Practices (GPP) for authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers of scientific journals. Topics to be covered at the Forum include: AI technologies for upholding the GPP Common dilemmas for journal editors Which… - Case
Possible omission of information essential for conclusions in a research paper
In 2013, our journal published a paper describing an observational study comparing two drugs (A and B) for the management of a chronic disease over a period of 10 years. The conclusion in the paper was that mortality was higher in group A (97 deaths) compared with the other group B (52 deaths) (hazard ratio 1.76, 1.22 to 2.53; P=0.003). This analysis was done after adjustment for a large… - Case
An investigation into results that were “almost too good to be true”
A general medical journal received an RCT from a seldom-published, single-author, in an eastern European country. The results were striking, with an effect size that surpassed that of established medications for this condition, so the manuscript was sent for peer review. One reviewer commented that the results were “so highly statistically significant it is almost too good to be…