- News
New flowcharts: ethical concerns in data publication
…Working Group, in collaboration with COPE, developed recommendations for the handling of ethical concerns related to the publication of research data for four categories of data issues. This was followed by the development of policy templates to help journals, publishers, and data repositories… - Case
Should editors get involved in authorship disputes?
…interpretation of the data. This letter was forwarded to the authors, who acknowledged that the American author had highlighted some major errors which they corrected in a further revision of their paper. But they disputed his interpretation of their data. The Finnish authors acknowledged the advice given by the US author, but did not declare any financial input from him. They denied that he should have been… - Case
Plagiarism
…seems likely that the co-authors are unaware of the plagiarism by the first author. The editor of Journal A wrote to the corresponding author to point out the apparent plagiarism and to ask for an explanation. The corresponding author replied, apologising profusely for the error and saying that he would withdraw the paper for consideration while further investigations were made. He explained that the… - Case
Unauthorised use of questionnaires
_ It may have been an innocent mistake on the part of the authors, who thought the first questionnaire was in the public domain and could be translated and used by anyone. _ The editor needs to find out more information on why the author felt compelled to withdraw the paper. It would be useful to find out whether the questionnaire was copyrighted. _ For the second case, the likely problem was… - Case
Palestinian refugee conditions
A journal received a simple, cross-sectional survey of Palestinian refugees. The author was a Palestinian, employed by a charity and undertaking research based at a university overseas. The study contained new data and within the constraints of a cross-sectional survey seemed methodologically sound. The paper was sent to two peer reviewers with expertise in the area, experience in… - Case
Anonymous peer review – author requesting manuscript file
Two manuscripts were submitted, reviewed as sister manuscripts by the journal, and rejected on the basis of negative reviews. The author took issue with one particularly negative review and appealed our decision. We sought the advice of an editorial board member who reviewed the manuscripts and the reports and agreed that the correct editorial decision was… - Case
Plagiarized figure
…a published figure, we contacted the corresponding author again and he/she said they had not seen the paper and it was submitted by a student. As the paper was “in press”, we thought that we may be able to withdrawn it. We contacted the research deputy of our university and the author’s university but we have received no reply. Question(s) for the COPE Forum• Is this major… - Research
Environmental scan of repositories of clinical research data: how far have we got with public disclosure of trial data? 2012
…websites of repositories, and engagement of relevant stakeholders – such as interviews with repository managers. We will aim to capture any methods of existing repositories for public disclosure of clinical data and non-public forms of data sharing, such as the unique and persistent identification systems for datasets; the data license, use or other agreements employed by the repositories; and the… - Case
Is it plagiarism to use text verbatim from a manuscript review?
A commentary was reviewed by journal A and rejected. The paper was then submitted and accepted at journal B. Journal B published the commentary. After publication, a reviewer from journal A wrote to journal B with a complaint of plagiarism. Text from his/her review was used in the commentary published in journal B Question(s) for the COPE Forum• How should the editor of… - Case
A pre-submission inquiry with a bribe
…potentially interesting in submitting papers to our journal and wondered whether we might be interested in publishing 1–2 articles in each issue of the journal. The author also asked for a swift peer review process and even for me to help with making the revisions to the paper in order to enhance the chances of publication. Finally, the author concluded by saying they would pay me $1100 US dollars to… - Seminars and webinars
WCRI 2019: Preprints and their place in the publication ethics landscape
…platforms. Then the meat of the session began with a debate, with Debbie Sweet (Cell Press, Elsevier) providing a pro-preprint argument about the benefits of quick and timely dissemination of research. The anti-preprint argument was presented by Howard Browman (COPE and - Case
Where should journals escalate serious concerns about an institution or institutional review board?
A publisher received a submission to one of their journals that raised ethical concerns. The concerns were related to potential harm or undue risk for participants who may be vulnerable. The publisher reviewed the ethics approval statement, and the authors had met the journal’s policy requirements by prospectively obtaining ethics approval from their institution before beginning the… - Case
Duplicate articles due to DOI reassignment
…area? If they cannot be removed, is it acceptable to compile them into a separate special issue in the online space which would then be withdrawn and accompanied by a withdrawal notice? … - Case
Concerns over the withdrawal of a complaint
The journal received multiple complaints from two ‘whistleblowers’ in country A regarding the methodology presented in an article published in 2021. The Editors began an investigation into the paper, using evidence provided by the whistleblowers. The Editors felt that based on the provided evidence, an investigation should be carried out. The authors, who were also from country A, were made… - Case
Handling undisclosed peer reviewer conflict
…are employed by this company) recommended that peer reviewer in the first place? … - Flowcharts
How to recognise potential manipulation of the peer review process
…="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/recognising-peer-review-manipulation-cope-infographic.pdf" target="_blank">How to recognise potential manipulation of the peer review process PDF 316 KB Key points Peer reviewers may be suggested by: the Editor handling the manuscript;… - Guidelines
Managing the relationships between society owned journals, their society, and publishers
…Resources should be provided by the society to ensure a journal maintains transparent and ethical processes. Societies should be transparent in their process for selecting third party support for the journal, such as printers or advertising support. The journal website should clearly state its ethical practices for authors and reviewers. Management of the journal and ownership… - Event
COPE webinar: Standards in authorship
Read the summary of our first COPE webinar for information, shared discussion and practical advice on common authorship issues faced by COPE members.. We will be discussing the main issues that are brought to COPE for advice, ranging from what constitutes authorship to guidelines for authorship and… - News
In the news: January 2019 Digest
…midst of all this discussion of Plan S, a report has been published on the outcomes of a workshop held in February 2018, by ALLEA (European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities) on the ethical aspects of Open Access.https://www.allea.org/wp-content/uploads/2018… - News
COPE in 2023
…to be a regulatory body. As a membership organisation that is run by volunteers this cannot be what we do at COPE. Rather, our aim is educational and aimed at providing guidance and advice – not only to our members but, indirectly, to the wider community. Our goal is to raise standards and awareness of best practice via collaborative dialogue, providing an objective space…