- Case
Redundant publication
A complaint of redundant publication was made by a reader, who claimed that a second paper had been published in the journal, after the first had already been published elsewhere. No permission letter was obtained by the author of the second paper and the first paper had not been cited.… - Case
Possible plagiarism in a cross over, double blind placebo controlled study
_ The third reviewer found no evidence of plagiarism, despite the similarities in both papers. The editor did not request the original data, and the committee acknowledged that the data could have been falsified. _ The presentation of the papers was similar, but drug companies often use the same format for reporting, so they would, in fact, look the same. _ The Cochrane Group finds it… - Case
Confidentiality and privacy issue
…confidentiality/privacy. No IRB was obtained (case series/QI project). No consent was available from individual patients. COPE’s advice would be appreciated.… - Case
Is ethics approval required?
The journal received a paper on an imaging technique which reported changes in a normal healthy volunteer. No adverse events were experienced. This study demonstrated the feasibility and safety of the imaging studies in a particular condition. The paper was rejected on methodological and priority grounds but during the review process it was noted that no specific mention was made of… - Translated resources
Guías para la retractación
…class="resource-download-inline__meta">PDF 1 MB Resumen Los editores deberían considerar retractar una publicación si: Tienen pruebas contundentes de que los descubrimientos no son fiables, bien como resultado de un error importante (p.ej., error de… - Case
HIV homeopathy
…antiretroviral treatment at any time and if not why not? The authors confirmed that the study protocol did not include antiretroviral therapy because “There is no obligation of the ARVs use and conventional medicine is expensive. Many patients...were afraid of white people and of the side effects”. We asked what the participants were told when they gave consent. The participants were given details of… - Case
Alleged misuse of confidential information
…management and genetic counselling of the patients. No non-disclosure agreement or similar document was signed. It was also alleged that author A’s group included in their study three of the patients that they knew were already studied by author B. The confidential nature of the meeting, attended by several physicians and researchers, is in dispute. Author A, in response to a request by the editor,… - Case
Institution alleges that paper includes fabricated data
…paper (who is no longer at the institution) reiterating this assertion and providing some further explanation; that a former student had fabricated data and that it affected the paper (but providing no specifics). Over the next week or so, other journals by the same publisher received similar notifications from the same author. Initially, we were presented with no information regarding who the… - News
COPE offers two scholarships to attend COPE's European seminar
COPE member editors from developing countries are invited to apply for one of two scholarships to attend COPE’s European seminar and annual general meeting, to be held in London on March 16th, 2012. This will cover two nights’ hotel accommodation in London and round-trip (economy class) airfare. Interested editors should send a short CV (no more than 4 pages) and letter of application… - Event
EQUATOR Annual Lecture 2013
…http://www.equator-network.org/courses-events/2013-annual-lecture--workshop/ The lecture is free, no need to register.… - News
Peer review cases: Spanish translations
…-comprometido-en-articulos-publicados" target="_blank">Caso 2 Proceso de revisión por pares comprometido en artículos publicados Caso 3 El autor solicita que ciertos expertos no participen en el proceso editorial - Case
The declared and the undeclared competing interests
An editorial was published on a particular subject in which the author’s competing interests were declared. He had given evidence on behalf of patients making a claim against a manufacturer. Three people then separately pointed out that we had already published a commentary on the same subject in which there had been no declaration of competing interest for the author. The three people all… - Case
Duplicate submission
…portions of the texts of the two manuscripts are identical. No reference is made in either paper to the other submission. The instructions for authors for both journals state that ‘by submitting, corresponding authors confirm that their manuscripts report unpublished work that is not under consideration for publication elsewhere’. The authors may have been unaware that journal A and journal B are now… - Case
Author approval for response to mini-reviews
We publish mini-reviews of important articles from the medical literature. In order to give the authors of reviewed articles a chance to respond to the review, we have now started to contact the corresponding author once a review of their article has been published on our website. If an author responds, we wish to publish their comments underneath the review. Do we need to get formal ver… - Case
Ethics committee waives consent for case report, editor disagrees
…a systematic investigation and that no identifiable information was included in the manuscript. The authors were told that consent was still needed and that they should attempt to obtain it from the children’s parents or next of kin. The authors said that it would not be possible to obtain consent from the parents since the mother of one child was now deceased and the other was lost to follow-up, but… - Case
Plagiarism
…about their usefulness, etc. The previous publication was referenced, but only for a small point, and the reference in no way indicated the wholesale reproduction of sections of the paper. The paper comes from a respected institution and the corresponding author is a highly regarded researcher. The first author, who presumably drafted the review, is on a research scholarship to the institution. It… - Case
New surgical technique without evidence of either ethics committee approval or patient consent
A study was submitted in which the authors describe a new surgical technique, which includes radiofrequency coagulation, to treat complete prolapse of the rectum. They say in their paper that: “in the treatment of complete rectal prolapse, no operation stands out in comparison to the others.” The authors do not seem to have received either ethics committee approval or consent from the… - Case
Going public on potential fraud
…not an established clinical test and that there had been no prior publication of its application for the purpose stated in the paper. Additionally, the authors did not have the certification required to use the test, and the patients had a condition which affected them neurologically. Although problems with the article were published only six weeks after it first appeared, the authors could not… - Case
Claim of plagiarism in published article
Author A of a 2008 review article in our journal claims her article was used as the "framework" for a 2013 review article on the same subject in an open access journal by a former student of hers, author B. There was no verbatim overlap but the format (comparison of two common conditions) was indeed similar (differential diagnosis, management, pharmacotherapy, and implications for… - Event
PSP Consulting: Editors' virtual courses 2021: Improving journal quality and impact
…boards What: A mixture of presentation and breakout discussions, supported by extensive handbook for later reference How: No software required, only Internet access How much: Cost: £320…