- Case
Repetitive duplicate submission to multiple journals and redundant publication
This case came to light when the editors of two journals (J1 and J2) established that the same manuscript (MsA) had been submitted to both journals simultaneously. On bringing this information to the attention of the author, stating the seriousness with which this action was viewed and requesting an explanation, the author apologised and withdrew the manuscript from both journals w… - Case
Managing an editor’s undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article
An opinion piece on a polarising political and technological topic was published. A discussion ensued on social media, and shortly after, the publisher received a formal complaint stating that the editor-in-chief of the journal, who had managed the peer review process for the manuscript, had a conflict of interest and should not have made the final acceptance decision. When the publishing team… - Case
Article published at two journals after withdrawal from first journal
Journal B was contacted by a group of authors who had published their article in Journal B a few months previously. The authors were concerned as they found that their article had been published by Journal A, a journal they had previously submitted the article to but withdrawn prior to publication. Journal B requested the withdrawal confirmation from the authors, and this was duly provided. On… - Case
Ethical approval requirements for case study reports
We have noticed a lot of variety in the way that ethical approval for Case Reports are published in different journals. For example, some state that the study was determined not to require Ethics Committee (EC) or Institutional Review Board (IRB) review especially if it was a retrospective review. Others state that all procedures were carried out in accordance with approved ethical standards, g… Seminars
…ethics from student to professional” The 2013 European Seminar was held on Friday 22 March 2013 at Charles Darwin House Conference Centre, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU, UK Institutional responses to violations of research integrity — Professor Pieter Drenth, Professor Emeritus at VU University of Amsterdam- Case
Ethical conduct of qualitative research studies
Publishers are seeing an increase in submitted data generated from qualitative research studies. These studies are answering important questions such as identifying unmet need or highlighting the lived experience, potentially adding real value to the body of evidence especially in rare diseases. They are often Pharma funded and / or patient advocacy group led. Many of these studies have… Common ethical and editorial dilemmas of author misconduct: how should we respond?
…0 2001 39 30 9 0 2002 18 14 4 0 2003 22 15 5 2 2004 25* 17 7 1 Total 212 163…- Case
Who ensures the integrity of the editor?
An editor came across a letter from the editor-in-chief of his journal to a reviewer that asserted he had recommended the acceptance of a manuscript. He had in fact recommended the opposite, both verbally and in writing. The paper in question was a guideline on the therapeutic choices for a relatively common medical condition. The authors had claimed their conclusions and therapeutic recommenda… - Case
Confidentiality and consent in case reports
We would appreciate COPE Forum’s advice with regard to consent and confidentiality in the publication of case histories. Our journal is published three times a year and has a relatively small circulation but also goes to some postgraduate medical libraries, so is potentially available to a much wider audience. Our subscribers are doctors working with patients presenting with sexua… - 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 - News
Case discussion: critiques after publication
…Is there a time limit for submitting a critique of a published article? Case Summary Time limit on critiques? case 22-02 A journal received a letter raising concerns about a study that had been published a year earlier. An independent… - Case
Plagiarism, double submission and reviewer ethicality
This is a complicated case which involves possible plagiarism, double submission and reviewer misconduct. The timeline is as follows: In year n, a paper P1 authored by A1 and A2 was published in the English language journal X. The paper describes a theoretical analysis of a particular phenomenon. In year n+6, paper P2 was published in a non-English language outlet by auth… - Case
Dealing with cases with culturally offensive content
Society journal X and propriety journal Y have received complaints regarding historic papers published in their journals (generating a lot of anger on twitter). The papers outline a practise the society (who had a historic role in its development) no longer endorse. The society has released an apology about their involvement with the practise, but the practice itself is not illegal (in the majo… - News
In the news: February Digest
…Kitchen’s contributors discusses this move in the context of a movement to 100% open access.https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2019/01/22/celebrating-30000-open-access-articles/ International research topics The US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and… - News
Where next in peer review? Part 1: COPE commentary
…retracted and this damaged faith in community-driven rapid review. This time, however, we seem so far to have avoided these reservations. The story started on 28 July when a research group from South Korea announced on the ArXiv preprint server that they had found a material which acted as a superconductor at room temperature [1, 2]. - News
In the news: October-November 2021
…journals that collect demographic data on editors, authors and peer reviewers. A recent post in the Scholarly Kitchen discusses AGU’s work on maximising participation from diverse contributors. Based on detailed analysis of baseline data, they have concentrated on increasing the representation of… - News
In the news: October 2018 Digest
…positive impact on society. There are 3 pillars: accountability, analysis and engagement.http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/08/22/developing… - News
In the news: July 2021
…/may/22/world-expert-in-scientific-misconduct-faces-legal-action-for-challenging-integrity-of-hydroxychloroquine-study" target="_blank">questioned the methodology of an RCT of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 disease by Dr. Didier Raoult in March 2020. Since then, Raoult has waged a public campaign, including publication of her home address and calling her names such as “nutcase”…