- News
Reflections on the COPE North American Seminar 2019
…compress the ideas and the language of a book, which he has done and notified journal editors of the misconduct; however, ideas and the way in which they are expressed are the scholarly products in disciplines such as philosophy. Some authors use pseudonyms to write articles or commentary that promote one’s previously published work, making the work seem more important and enhancing citations. Pseudonyms… - Case
Revoked parental consent
The editor was satisfied with the guidance the Forum provided. Based on feedback from the Forum, the journal is creating a sample parental consent form for authors to use as a template. The journal hopes to clarify what it means to give consent to publish a child’s case in the journal so that the parent is fully aware. The editor would be interested in any formal guidance on consent issues… - Discussion documents
Predatory publishing
…Think.Check.Submit for authors to use as a checklist when choosing a trusted journal or publisher for their research Your feedback COPE welcomes feedback from publishers, journal editors, reviewers, researchers, institutions, librarians, funders, and other stakeholders on this subject. Add your feedback below.… - Case
Same cohort - same blood samples - multiple tests
…for both studies were available at the time of the first submission. To summarise, multiple publications from the same cohort would be considered unethical if: 1. The study questions are closely related, and the judgment of the Editor/expert in the field is that the authors could have easily incorporated both papers into one more substantial publication. 2. The authors… - Case
The anonymous critic
_ The immediate reaction is to dismiss them if they are anonymous but they might be serious. _ Editor advised to write to author and his head of department to ask if they have concerns, citing a similar experience that had been submitted to COPE before where the anonymous complaint was found to be justified.… - 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
Nuffield Council on Bioethics report on the on The Culture of Scientific Research in the UK
…aware of scientists feeling tempted or under pressure to compromise on research integrity and standards,” and that “Suggested causes include high levels of competition in science and the pressure to publish”. Rightly the reports notes that there is “a collective obligation for the actors in the system to do everything they can to ensure the culture of research supports good research practice… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Reducing the inadvertent spread of retracted science: taxonomy considerations
In this webinar, the speakers discussed findings from a Sloan funded project, Reducing the inadvertent spread of retracted science. Panelists shared resources for educating authors, editors, and other stakeholders about the importance of retraction, ideas for emerging cross industry collaborations, and suggestions… - Event
1st COPE Asia Pacific Seminar 2011
…editors, researchers and journal authors from the four points of the scientific compass— physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences and health sciences—face many of the same challenges (authorship disputes, plagiarism and duplicate publication). COPE's 1st Asia Pacific seminar will provide insights from each of these four compass points. The speakers will focus on the ethical issues they have… - Case
Retract, correct, or both?
The advice from the Forum was that there has been serious misconduct and so the paper should be retracted, even though only the corresponding author was involved in the misconduct. Although the data are not in question, most believed that the paper should be retracted. If the investigation is going to take a long time, then the editor should publish a notice of concern. Going forward, the… - Case
Possible deception because of omission of important information
- It is impossible to know from the initial information whether the authors deliberately attempted to deceive by disguising the manner in which the drug was taken. - Why had it been difficult to find out information on the trial protocol? Had the pharmaceutical company exerted pressure for this information not to be released? - The editor should publish something to the effect that the… - Case
Undeclared conflict of interest
…the editors. - The journal launched an investigation with the authors' knowledge, and in conjunction with the institution, where the research was conducted. This concluded that the first two allegations were unfounded. But the undisclosed conflict of interest allegation was upheld. Ten of the 13 co-authors subsequently issued a partial retraction and an investigation by the national regulatory body… - Case
Disputed authorship
…author on the abstract, she was not told that her name would be omitted from the list of authors when the paper was submitted for publication.… - News
In the news: October 2020
…This is a problem for scholarly loss and protecting continued access. The OAPEN Foundation launched a toolkit for researchers and academic book authors to help authors understand OA for books, to increase trust in OA book publishing. President Xi Jinping of China has… - News
In the news: March Digest
…/>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/leap.1214 A study published in BMJ Open investigating whether papers reporting research on Chinese transplant recipients comply with international professional standards has called for the mass retraction of over 400 papers. - Forum discussion topics
Ethical aspects of conference proceedings
…outsourced or local teams are used they can apply different editorial and publication ethics standards than the norm for the journal. Publishers should engage in thorough vetting of editorial teams in both cases to try to eliminate these risks and may choose to have all submissions go through the Editor in Chief as well so that they can be confident that the publication conforms to the journal’s… FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…questions as to how best ensure author, editor, reviewer and journal interests are protected. Questions Does it violate confidential/blind peer-review to reveal reviewer comments even after publication? What can journals do to make sure reviewer comments remain confidential? How can reviewers ensure they are able to share and get credit for their…Become a member
…ethics, and providing advice for editors and publishers. Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing COPE is just one of a number of organisations that is seeing a large rise in applications for membership from new journals. Although we very much want to encourage and support legitimate new journals, we are also mindful that many new journals are not currently…- Case
Dual publication may be necessary in some situations
…published from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The authors had taken the same cohort but looked at it from two entirely different angles with two entirely different readerships in mind. What are COPE’s views on this?… - Case
Extensive publication errors. Should we 're-publish'?
…Since our intention was to honour a deceased colleague, would it be appropriate to 'republish' the entire excerpt free of error, so it can appear in the form the author originally intended? My board feels that the extent version of the excerpt is an insult to the author and her family (who kindly edited and prepared the excerpt for publication). The excerpt was originally presented as part of the…