COPE Forum
…Publication ethics cases at the COPE Forum COPE members bring specific publication ethics issues to the Forum for discussion and advice. The cases are available to read, with advice given and follow up comments from the Member who submits the case. The next COPE Forum for COPE…- News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: June 2018
…applied to the individual(s) developing and conducting the research and/or writing the manuscript or grant report, who then submit it for publication or dissemination. The goals of the different and influential groups can be at odds with the concept of ethical oversight where the system is driven by forces other than an approach to ethical reasoning that protects the research subject. In a - Case
Ethics and consent in research
…to adequately question the researchers and become informed. One of the author’s patients who was studied was a previously (pre-employment) healthy 40-year-old woman who was found after a period of time at work to have abnormal results. However, no doctor contacted her to explain the results and written communication did not describe them as serious, and so she did not seek further medical… - Case
What involvement should a journal have in a dispute about an article published in the journal?
…original article not being reviewed double-blind, but also to the editing process for his versus the original author’s latest reply articles (both were edited—primarily proofreading in nature—by the editor-in-chief and another editor). At this time, the editor-in-chief has contacted both the scholar and original author simultaneously in the hope of encouraging them to work together with shared… - Case
Data fabrication, lack of ethical approval, withdrawal of paper and publication in another journal
…I asked for the ethics approval letter to establish if the trial had been registered or approved somewhere and also expressed the concerns to the authors. In the revised submission, I received a letter signed by one of the authors stating that the study was discussed at a departmental meeting and it was established that there was no need for ethical approval. According to my understanding of the… - Seminars and webinars
COPE webinar 2018: Creating and implementing data research policies
In July 2018 COPE held a webinar on 'Creating and implementing data research policies' moderated by Trevor Lane of Edanz Group and COPE Council. The guest speakers were: Rebecca Grant (Research Data Manager) & Varsha Khodiyar (Data Curation Manager) from the Open Research Group at Springer Nature; Todd Carpenter (Executive Director) from NISO, National Information… - Case
Disputed change in authorship
…article without the consent of one of the coauthors (author D) but as advised by the university leadership (the Dean). COPE’s general advice is that journals cannot adjudicate author disputes and in such cases COPE suggests involving the institutions. If author D disagrees with the Dean's decision about who qualifies for authorship, is there someone higher at the university who could review this case… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
…albeit one that we are unsure has adequately explained the flagged issues. There is one manuscript currently held in review authored by this guest editor that is a methods manuscript overviewing the protocol at the centre of this investigation; this manuscript has received 2 endorsements for publication and 2 recommendations for rejection from the 4 assigned reviewers. While the concerns voiced by the… - News
In the news: August 2018 Digest
…="_blank">http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/07/26/open-science-is-all-very-well-but-how-do-you-make-it-fair-in-practice/ Research integrity British universities fail at research integrity self-regulationA report released July 11, 2018 noted that ¼ of UK Universities does not comply with the concordat to support research integrity released in 2012. This concordat tied loss of funding from agencies… - News
Data and reproducibility focus
…target="_blank">research funded by COPE and disseminated at the Peer Review Congress in 2017. This research is reflective of the broader COPE membership in its sampling of data sharing policies from five disciplinary groups: biomedical sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, and formal sciences. Overall, biomedical science journals have implemented data sharing to a greater extent than… - News
Top cases 2020
…The most read case discussions published in 2020, where we share the advice given by fellow COPE members on a case, and add to the discussion with further indepth analysis of the issues and similar cases: Withdrawal of a paper at proof stage with additional COPE case examples,… - Case
A falling out
…the study and writing the manuscript. The letter was peer reviewed and published. The corresponding author was D. Ten days later a letter was received from B and C who work at a different institution from D, inviting us to publish an erratum. Their substantive corrections were noted, together with the comment that “in addition, we wish to point out that B and C contributed equally to the content of… - Case
An unethical ethics committee?
…The study went ahead. Subsequent correspondence made it clear that the study had not been given an investigative reference number. The information leaflet referred to the possibility of an allergic reaction and that a specialist registrar would be on hand at all times to deal with it. No reference was made to anaphylaxis or death. Since the study, the responsible bodies for ethics committees,… - Case
A patient was given an experimental course of complementary medicine when a standard treatment was available
The editors have written to all the authors explaining their editorial decision and intention to submit the case to the relevant authorities. Lawyers wrote back on behalf of the corresponding author. One author was unreachable because the email address was invalid; another expressed surprise at receiving the editors’ message, explaining that he could not remember having approved any manuscript… - Case
Reviewer/author conflict of interest
…the course of the next month. Without ever replying to any of these reminders, Dr B submitted his own manuscript to Journal A for consideration. When the editorial office confirmed the acceptance of this manuscript, they also reminded him that they had yet to receive his review. Dr B did not respond. When Dr B’s own paper was looked at, it became clear that there was a significant degree… - Case
Salami publication
A paper submitted to Journal A was rejected after critical peer review. Although the data and methods were sound, the data in the paper were not new and had been described, at least in part, in previous publications. The authors could also have combined the outcomes in the current paper with previous papers, thereby avoiding salami publication. The methods section was opaque, making it very… - Case
Suspected plagiarism
We had a case of suspected plagiarism recently on one of our journals, on which I would appreciate COPE’s advice. The case has been resolved, so this is not in the least urgent, but I would be interested to hear your views. Very briefly, at review stage the editor spotted substantial similarities between a paper submitted to our journal and a review published recently in a related… - Case
A case of parallel publication?
The committee agreed that it was entirely acceptable to publish a paper in a foreign language journal and then in an English journal provided the first paper is cited in the second journal, and it is made clear to the editor at submission. Both journals should give consent as the first journal has copyright. Although in the case of this particular journal there was no explicit advice on this… - Case
Post-publication evaluation and manufacturer information
…acceptable. In answer to (3), as competing interests were declared, the meeting felt that the evaluation should be accepted. Questions we didn’t consider at the time but have since asked ourselves: (4) Should we have asked if the evaluator was involved in the study itself and should this information have been included in the competing interests declaration? (5) Does naming the… - Case
Multiple failure to declare a relevant conflict of interest
During peer review of a manuscript submitted to journal Y, one of the referees indicated a belief that at least one of the authors had not declared a relevant conflict of interest (CoI). The article indicated that the authors had no relevant CoIs. The referee provided a URL to a press release that supported the allegation. It appears that one of the authors is the discoverer of a series of…