- Discussion documents
Citation manipulation
…href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/COPE_DD_A4_Citation_Manipulation_Jul19_SCREEN_AW2.pdf" target="_blank">citation-manipulation.pdf PDF 384 KB Key points … - Case
Query regarding a retraction
A journal published a paper. Some months later, the author asked if they could change the contents of the paper. The Editor in Chief had some concerns with respect to some of the results and could not come to an agreement with the author. The author then requested withdrawal of this paper and asked that it be removed from the database. The author also accused the journal of being unethical. - Case
Authorship dispute over image
A journal published an article on a drug. They also accepted a letter questioning the method used for determination of particle size in the study. The author of the original article claimed that the image used in the letter was theirs and asked that the letter not be published. It appears that the two authors used to collaborate. The journal was unable to verify who produced the image… - Seminars and webinars
European Seminar 2019: Exploring Publication Ethics Issues in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
…dealing with bias in reviewer comments as one of the top five issues, with 19% saying this happened frequently. These included: •A lack of support on ethics related to editors acting as reviewers or guest editors •Achieving blind review when the reviewers and authors have ties, or when working versions of papers are often published online before journal submission.… - Case
Authorship dispute during the review process
During the review process for a manuscript submitted to our journal, one of the reviewers alerted us that the manuscript appeared to be the work of a collaborator (Dr X) who was not listed as an author on the paper. It became clear that the manuscript’s corresponding author (Dr Y, affiliation A) was a postdoctoral researcher supervised by Dr X (previously at affiliation A, recently moved to aff… - News
In the news: May Digest
…gastroenterologists at the point of care. https://www.gastroendonews.com/In-the-News/Article/04-19/GI-Guidelines-Often-Fail-to-Disclose-Financial-Conflicts-of-Interest/54540 The BMJ is launching a stream of content to identify and respond to… - Case
Should stockholders of a pharmaceutical industry declare conflicts of interest in a research paper?
…such guidelines. Both of the US Preventive Services Taskforce and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also have moved beyond a simple declaration of interest in these guidelines on managing conflicts of interest . Questions for COPE Council What is the… - Case
A case of parallel publication?
Paper A appeared in a foreign language journal, together with an English abstract. Paper B was submitted to us, and one of our referees alerted us to the similar content. Closer inspection, including retrieval of the original foreign language manuscript and review by a deputy editor with a working knowledge of that language, and inspection of the tables by the editor and another editor,… - Case
Criteria to determine whether an author’s response to concerns about data validity is satisfactory
Questions were raised regarding the validity of data in two published papers (from the same author). The journal therefore followed the initial steps as listed in the COPE flowchart ‘What to do if you suspect fabricated data’ and contacted the author as appropriate. The author responded promptly and provided all the information requested (ethics approval letters, the original protocols… - Case
Using industry knowledge to evaluate an ethics case
A journal owned by publisher A recently posted an article critical of publisher B. Both publishers A and B are COPE members. Publisher B has already responded with several claims about the author’s methodology. Publisher A would normally defer to the journal’s editors. However, because the content of the article relates to the publishing industry, publisher A has particular insights into the to… United2Act launches action against paper mills
…Press release 19 January 2024 United2Act, an international collaboration committed to addressing the challenge of paper mills in scholarly publishing, has today released their Consensus Statement. This statement outlines five key areas of action against the impact of paper mills on the integrity of academic research and publishing. International stakeholders supporting…- News
In the news: December 2020
…important. Fox asked for feedback, and the comments section is lively as well. COVID-19 Helen Kara and Su-ming Khoo edited 3 rapid response e-books about conducting research in the age of COVID-19. The contributions illustrate… - News
In the news: February 2021
…="http://www.chemistryworld.com/news/imposters-hijack-journals-peer-review-process-to-publish-substandard-papers/4013050.article#/" target="_blank">themed issue and commissioned the proposers to handle the papers and assign referees. The problem is that the proposal came from a sophisticated group of fraudsters and the 19 accepted papers would otherwise have been rejected by the Journal for being either out of scope or below publication standards. In their announcement of the scam, the Journal described the… - News
In the news: March 2021
…-the-pandemic-changed-editorial-peer-review-and-why-we-should-wonder-whether-thats-desirable/" target="_blank">differences in the quality of peer review for papers submitted prior to and during the pandemic were identified. The review of Covid-19 papers did not emerge as less thorough but there was a shift in the quality criteria used to assess the manuscripts. The author of the study concluded that the review of Covid-19 papers were milder and satisfied with lower standards, such as smaller sample size, fewer… - News
In the news: September 2021
…illustrated that Southern research outperforms research from the North. Research systems in the South should be able to define frameworks for assessing the value of research. COVID-19 The reported - Case
Possible authorship conflict over an article published ahead of print
Journal A received an original article (article B) with three coauthors which showed substantial similarities with a single-authored article accepted in the same journal a few months previously (article A). The author of article A was one of the three coauthors of article B. The journal contacted the corresponding author of article B (Author 2) to inform them of the similarities between… - Webform
COPE peer review workshop, November 2020
…Peer review workshop Thursday 19 November 2020, online workshop 9.00am - 10.30am (GMT) (COPE Members only) REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED AS WORKSHOP IS FULL Following on from the success of our Peer Review Workshop during this year’s Peer Review Week, COPE is re-running… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: February 2021
…COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of 2020, we reviewed the year’s activities in terms of our strategic goals and a synopsis of those activities is included in this month’s Digest. In particular, while we hope to have face to face meetings at the end of 2021, we have committed to online delivery of increased interactive events, including workshops, webinars and a virtual seminar. We also plan to discuss… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: September 2022
Welcome to our annual edition of Digest celebrating Peer Review Week (19-23 September). This year’s theme is “Research Integrity: Creating and supporting trust in research”. As part of Peer Review Week, COPE is hosting a webinar on managing paper…