- News
COPE delegation, Beijing, 2017
…editors. CAS NSL holds several such seminars a year, often in partnership with publishers. The delegation had a wide ranging and productive meeting with CAST (Chinese Association of Science and Technology). CAST has made a comprehensive effort to tackle the misconduct problems in China, having tailored their response specifically to China,… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: December 2019
…of our members and the larger scholarly community in the coming years. We send you all best wishes for the New Year. COPE Chair Deborah Poff… Expenses policy
…offences are not reimbursed. Related content All COPE policies Page history Last updated 26 August 2020 Back to top…- Case
Possible breach of reviewer confidentiality
…href="http://publicationethics.org/files/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf ">Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers" and would recommend them to all editors. They have been very well received and are a very useful resource for editors and reviewers. Editors may like to include them in their instructions for reviewers.… - Guidelines
A short guide to ethical editing for new editors
…class="resource-download-inline__container"> Document A short guide to ethical editing for new editors PDF 577 KB … - Research
Retractions research project 2008
…retracted and how this should be carried out. This project is a collaboration between Liz Wager (freelance publication consultant) and Peter Williams of University College, London. Update This study has now been published in the Journal of Medical Ethics (J Med Ethics doi:10.1136/jme.2010.040964). 'Why and how do… - Case
Authors used pseudonyms on a published article
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. It is not appropriate for authors to give false names in… - Case
Publication of an article accepted 5 years ago
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. This situation should never have arisen in the first… - Case
Peer reviewer contacted by author
…to another journal. Although the proposed transition from peer reviewer to co-author is clearly inappropriate, some of the early steps leading up to this are less clear. COPE guidance for peer reviewers recommends that reviewers not contact the authors directly without the permission of… - Case
Preprint plagiarism
…href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/plagiarism-published-article" target="_blank">what to do if you suspect plagiarism in a published paper, which advises the editor to contact the authors initially in a neutral tone for an explanation, before taking the matter further.… - Case
Who ensures the integrity of the editor?
An editor came across a letter from the editor-in-chief of his journal to a reviewer that asserted he had recommended the acceptance of a manuscript. He had in fact recommended the opposite, both verbally and in writing. The paper in question was a guideline on the therapeutic choices for a relatively common medical condition. The authors had claimed their conclusions and therapeutic recommenda… - Case
Confidentiality and consent in case reports
We would appreciate COPE Forum’s advice with regard to consent and confidentiality in the publication of case histories. Our journal is published three times a year and has a relatively small circulation but also goes to some postgraduate medical libraries, so is potentially available to a much wider audience. Our subscribers are doctors working with patients presenting with sexua… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
We launched a Special Issue (SI) focusing on the application of a particular clinical protocol, with guest editors that have an extensive clinical history in applying this protocol. This specific protocol is currently used and promoted by a small subset of practitioners, with limited wider recognition. The SI concluded with a substantial number of published articles, including several case repo… - Case
Author requests for certain experts not to be included in the editorial process
…a policy for handling requests to exclude individuals from the journal’s editorial process. The following has been added to the journal’s editorial policy: “We reserve the right to send manuscripts to the reviewers of our choice”. The editor considers the case closed. Related resource Spanish version: Outcomes of editors' attempts to investigate research misconduct
…Plagiarism 7 2 2 2 14% Total (%) 79 16 (20) 15 (19) 23 (29) 36 (46) In about one in five cases, the individual was exonerated. But in about 20% of cases,…- Case
Previous publication cannot be verified
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. There are several aspects to this: legal and ethical,… - Case
Allegations related to multiple papers and journals
…there are problems with other papers. There is existing COPE guidance on Sharing of information among editors-in-chief regarding possible misconduct which explains how to share information. It may be appropriate to share some amount of information with other… - Case
Duplicate publication in a predatory journal
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. The situation is unfortunate but not uncommon, and must… - Case
Ethics approval and consent
…COPE position statement on The protection of vulnerable groups and individuals … - Case
Change of corresponding author after manuscript published online
…flowchart “Changes in authorship: Removal of author – after publication” by contacting all of the authors and asking them for an explanation. The COPE discussion document on “Authorship” also provides some guidance on this issue and states that “Although the editorial office typically communicates…