- Case
The incomplete retraction
A journal published a paper several years ago that subsequently had to be retracted, on the advice of the university where the work had been conducted. The university provided no further details but promised to do so. Two years later they confirmed that the paper should be retracted, but gave no information on exactly what had gone wrong and whether anybody had been punished. Subsequently, one… - Case
Authorship dispute over image
A journal published an article on a drug. They also accepted a letter questioning the method used for determination of particle size in the study. The author of the original article claimed that the image used in the letter was theirs and asked that the letter not be published. It appears that the two authors used to collaborate. The journal was unable to verify who produced the… - Case
Suspicion that signed informed consent forms are forged
…for educative purposes. The editors should also consider whether there is enough evidence to suggest research misconduct, in which case the authors’ institution should be informed (in neutral terms, with the authors potentially copied). The editors may find COPE’s guidance on - Case
Consent from relatives for genetic tests
A paper described a problem of two women who wanted their fetuses to be tested for a genetic condition, but where in both cases their partners had refused to give consent. Should the journal publish such a paper without obtaining consent from the partners? The editors think not, but the authors are unconvinced.… - Event
3rd World Conference on Research Integrity
…training; For the first time, the World Conference invites proposals of presentations on empirical research on research integrity and analyses of related topics. Please see the Call for Abstracts for more information. One outcome of the conference will be a Montreal Statement that will offer guidance on integrity in cross-national,… - Case
Citing a retracted paper
…have submitted a manuscript and the associate editor has noticed that one of the references (which they happen to be an author on) has since been retracted. They are presumably asking whether a paper citing a retracted paper is to be considered sound? We think this should be a question for the peer reviewers. Perhaps, as a responsible editor, they should point out to the reviewers that one of the… - News
Italian version of flowcharts now available
An Italian version of the COPE flowcharts are now available and can be downloaded here. Coming soon: Farsi, Spanish, Korean, and others! More details can be seen here.… - News
Letter from the COPE Chair: July 2021
…equity, and inclusion, authorship, and ethics in book publishing will be tackled in a mix of webinars and workshops throughout the week. This is not to be missed and the content will be useful for everyone. Registration for the individual sessions will open soon. COPE has been very busy as our volunteers continue to update and produce new guidance and resources. This month, the updated flowchart… - Case
Has formal ethical approval been granted that satisfies publication criteria?
The issue here is whether formal ethics approval has been granted in order to satisfy publication criteria. By way of some background information, a lot of screening data are collected on many athletes in many sports, both nationally and internationally. Historically, clubs and associations have disclaimers whereby athletes sign consent for their data to be used for audit purposes on the… - Case
Retrospective registration, outcome switching and ethical approval
…Concern. The National Library of Medicine has a fact sheet (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/errata.html) detailing the types of corrections that can be linked to an article. This list includes “Comments” which could be used to link commentary from the authors as well as from editors. Some journals ask for the full protocol… - Event
Paper mills meeting: WCRI2024
Monday 3 June 18:30-20:30pm WCRI2024 attendees are welcome to register for an in-person meeting of WCRI2024 attendees with active interests in paper mills, organised by Jennifer Byrne. The meeting will be held on Monday 03 June from 6.30-8.30 pm at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre, after the conference… - Case
Confidentiality and conflict of interest
…The persons surveyed were given assurance that the views expressed would remain unattributed and that the information gathered would be for research purposes only. The reviewer asked the editor to put the article on hold until he clarified whether or not the publication of part of the research findings would be acceptable,given the confidentiality agreements undertaken. What should the editor do… - Case
Duplicate submission or self plagiarism. Is the author to blame?
…proceedings. The reviewer sent us the article downloaded from the conference website highlighting the overlapping paragraphs, which was nearly 80%. The journal wrote to the authors asking for an explanation. The authors stated that they had submitted an abstract of their work for participation in the international conference. The abstract was accepted on the condition that they submitted the… International standards for editors and authors
…href="http://www.worldscibooks.com/socialsci/8102.html">here). We encourage editors to publish the statements in their own journals and reference them or incorporate them into their editorial policies and instructions for authors. (*Permission for republication is not required but the original source should be acknowledged.)- Case
Informed consent
A group of researchers are conducting a study of whether women aged 65 to 69 years will accept screening for breast cancer. They plan to invite these women for screening in the same way as they invite younger women for screening but will not know that they are part of a research study. The authors want advice on whether journals would be willing to publish their results, despite the fact that… - Case
Duplicate publication
The editor of Journal A drew the attention of the editor of Journal B to two articles published in their journals which were remarkably similar. The editor of Journal A believed that certain passages of text suggested duplicate publication of results. The dates of publication indicated that these data were accepted first by Journal A. Should it turn out to be duplicate publication, the authors… - Event
COPE Forum: September 2023
COPE Members: join us for the COPE Forum where participants discuss publication ethics issues submitted by Members. The Forum will begin with a discussion on "Peer review models" before we ask participants for advice on Members' cases. REGISTER TODAY Submit a case to… - Case
Redundant publication by an editorial board member
…a slightly different aspect of the paper. No mention of this study had been made in the paper submitted to the specialist journal. The editor wrote to the board member, who replied saying that there are some important differences between the papers,and that the one submitted to the journal is intended to be the main paper that will be cited, with further reports published in due course. The board member… - Forum discussion topics
Predatory publishing: next steps and where do we go from here?
…research may be necessary, it is not a sufficient response to the problems associated with predatory publishers. Consequently, and more recently, the dialogue has turned to more practice based solutions. What are the next steps that COPE, or other industry organisations, might consider as a response to the continued flourishing and growth of predatory journals, conferences, and publishers? This… - Webform
COPE integrity workshop 2021
…(BST), 11:00-12:30 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)--> COPE is delighted to announce an online workshop which looks at the lessons that can be learnt from issues of concern raised to COPE's Facilitation and Integrity subcommittee. At the workshop we will: discuss the framework within which the Facilitation and…