- Forum discussion topics
What does peer review mean in the arts, humanities and social sciences?
June 2020 Are there differences in gender and diversity issues in arts, humanities, and social sciences (AHSS) in peer review from other disciplines? Participants discussed this topic at the COPE Forum, June 2020. Language, quality, diversity and inclusivity in AHSS In a study by COPE in collaboration with Taylor & Francis… - Forum discussion topics
Ethical aspects of conference proceedings
…publishing. Following COPE's mission, ethical aspects of conference proceedings will be the focus of the discussion. What are we looking at when we talk about conference proceedings? Conference proceedings cover a range of publication types, some of which are treated differently than book and journal publications, and others the same. Conference proceedings can be journals, special issues of… - Forum discussion topics
Dealing with complaints about the integrity of published research
…respond continually if they have no information to share, if the case is ongoing. For cases with persistent complainants, it can be helpful for journals to define a schedule for when updates will be provided, whether that is once a month or once a quarter, or only at the end of the case. It is important to set expectations so that complainants know that the journal will not be replying to… COPE Privacy notice
…privacy. Our contact details You can write to us at: COPE, New Kings Court, Tollgate, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 3LG, United Kingdom. Christina McGuire, the COPE Web Manager, is the person designated to support COPE with its data protection responsibilities. You can email Christina via- News
In the news: November 2020
…-massive-database-retracted-papers-reveals-about-science-publishing-s-death-penalty" target="_blank">Notable findings include: the rate of increase of retractions has slowed; the continued increase seems to reflect improved oversight at a growing number of journals; more editors should take this seriously; about 1/4 of 10,500 retractions analysed were authored by a small number of individuals, usually the result of deliberate misconduct; retraction rates differ by country; many retractions are due… - Case
Professional misconduct of one author
…change, all authors will have to agree to the change before publication of a revised version of the article, with a clear explanation of the change included at the top of the paper. We also explained that, in line with COPE guidelines and our own editorial policies, our editorial team cannot take responsibility for resolving disputes over authorship, and any disagreements among the authors must be… - Seminars and webinars
Inclusive language: policing or progressive?
…associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and an editor of the journal Zootaxa), and Lisa Richardson (Associate Dean, Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine). Inclusive language survey Caroline introduces the session with a review of a recent COPE member survey on experiences of language use policies. Respondents were familiar with… - News
In the news: April 2020
…gender diversity among reviewers and editors to mitigate the perception and reality of bias. https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/gh4rv/ The investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs recently announced it will no longer take companies public unless they have at least one diverse board member because… - News
Opinions on opinions
…individual consideration, integrity, trust, and authenticity. Leaders, according to these leadership theories, set goals that are ideally both inspirational and aspirational. The goals are larger than any transactional bottom-line and are aimed at lifting up rather than punishing or imposing censure. This clearly does not mean that wrong-doing doesn’t receive punishment or that censure doesn’t happen.… - News
Complaints and appeals
…COPE guidance), and follow established processes (eg, COPE flowcharts). This needs to be carefully documented and articulated to COPE at the time of the complaint. Know what you can decide upon and when to decide; and know what you can’t decide upon that requires decisions from other parties that you might then react or respond to (eg, institutions or publishers). COPE recognises that… - News
Post-publication discussions and corrections focus
…COPE’s Core Practice #10 – Post-publication discussions & corrections To round out our year-in-review of COPE’s 10 Core Practices, we take a look at Core Practice #10 about Post-publication discussions & corrections: “Journals must allow debate post publication either on their site, through… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: January 2021
…topics of interest to our membership. At our COPE Forum in December, we held an exploratory discussion of what COPE and other industry organisations might do to further our individual and collective stance against predatory publishing. Dr Kelly Cobey described an authenticator project for… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: March 2021
…this new information sharing and your ideas of what you would like to see. This issue of Digest includes updates on two projects in which COPE has been participating. Cary Moskovitz gives an update on the Text Recycling Research Project, previously presented to COPE members at a - Case
CV study: was ethics approval and consent required?
…helped them draft a statement to potential applicants. - The human resources department does not “own” the CVs. - The likely harm from sending out the questionnaire was minimal in this instance, but the seemingly casual approach to the maintenance of confidential personal information at the trust was a cause for concern. - The editor should write to the authors to inform them of COPE’s views. - The… - Case
Ethical approval and fabrication of results
…retrospectively looked at some more patients to make the number up to 50. He said that he did not think retrospective case studies had to be approved by a review board. The webpage for the specialist research society cannot be located. Do retrospective case studies require ethical approval? Can we ask the authors for proof of ethics approval for their previous study of 15… - Case
Ethical approval for retrospective study
…protocol. 4) The program was not set up as a study or research project, but as a treatment program. Hence we did not seek/obtain ethical approval for a study but rather project approval from the Ministry of Health. 5) Our analysis looked retrospectively at outcomes for a large cohort of patients treated. This was done internally as part of an audit/evaluation, so as to improve our quality of… - Case
Suspected systematic data fabrication
…that if no satisfactory response is received then the authors’ institutions will be contacted and informed of the situation. Other advice offered was to have an independent statistical adviser review the paper, independently of the third party. A number of the journals involved are published by one publisher who was represented at the meeting. The publisher agreed to encourage its… - Case
Duplicate publication in a non-English language journal
…been sent after the case report was published in the non-English language journal. The authors were contacted separately by email, and asked to explain the discrepancy. They were warned that if no satisfactory explanation was provided, the journal would have to retract the case report. At the time of writing, they have both written to say that they will provide an explanation, but have not yet done… - Case
Retract, correct, or both?
…discussion, in order to put it into context Meanwhile, I have written to the corresponding author without response. My intention is to contact the corresponding author's institution(s) if there's still no response by the end of May. I have also written to the research ethics committee at the hospital concerned to check that approval was given as claimed in the paper (so far also without… - Case
Concerns about the reliability of findings following re-analysis of a dataset from a published article
…to look at all of the data and then publish this as a comment on the article itself.…