FORUM DISCUSSION TOPIC: comments please
…(HRA) holds firmly to the view that health research should undergo independent ethical review. Audit, service evaluation and public health surveillance, usually of minimal risk, are excluded under official policy (GAfREC 2.3.12- 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… - Case
Should we always follow the decisions of ethics committees?
A paper was submitted to our journal describing a study in which children received general anaesthesia for a minor operation. The authors chose to induce anaesthesia with a mask and 8% sevoflurane inhalation for 8 minutes. The aim was to study the EEG over various brain areas to see where the epileptogenic activity is located. The reason for doing the study was that it has been sho… - Case
Plagiarism in a case report
I received a phone call from the first Author (A) of a case report published in our journal in 2005, who informed us that he had received a letter from an Author (B) of a research letter which had been published in another journal in 2000, stating that 12–15 sentences from the research letter had been copied in the case report. Having compared the papers, about… - Case
The ethics of using privileged information
A paper published in one of our journals (paper A) provoked the submission of a correspondence article claiming that a minor conclusion of the paper was a misinterpretation and erroneous. The point in contention was a question of zoomorphology and our paper’s conclusions were based on analysis using a non-invasive technique while the rebuttal relied on more traditional techniques. We are bringi… - Case
Retract, correct, or both?
Like many journals, we do not collect actual signatures of each co-author, asking the corresponding author to declare on a form that, among other things, he/she has the authority to submit on behalf of the others A paper was published in our journal in April 2010. Shortly afterwards, we were contacted by one of the authors saying that he and his colleagues had been unaware of the existen… - Case
Retractions of primary literature papers: how should a review journal react?
In a recent and very prominent case of publication misconduct resulting in the retraction of 12 research papers (to date), many journals have been included in ‘round-mails’ from the whistleblower and other scientists. Our journal (a reviews and features journal) has published a review from the main author associated with the misconduct, which contains reference to six of the retracted… - Case
Unethical private practice
This single author manuscript describes the treatment of 300 women with psychological problems. The women were randomised to either therapy or pharmacological intervention, and this study reports the relative effectiveness of these strategies. At submission, the manuscript did not contain any mention of ethics approval, consent or trial registration. When the author was queried on these… - Case
Extensive publication errors. Should we 're-publish'?
In March 2012, our journal published a posthumous excerpt of a book by a prestigious scholar, who had died before completing the book. We chose to publish because the unfinished book represented the scholar's life work, and would not find another publication venue. The excerpt included a number of large figures, which we also published. At our publisher, we had a new production team, and… - Case
Concerns about the reliability of findings following re-analysis of a dataset from a published article
Following publication of an article, a reader posted a comment raising some questions about the data analysis in the study and the availability of the dataset. We followed-up with the authors and they offered to share the dataset with the reader—the dataset involves genetic information from potentially identifiable patients and as a result the authors indicated that the deposition of the data w… - Case
Inadequate assurance of human research ethics for a questionnaire
A questionnaire was distributed to knowledge workers in an organisation to investigate the following hypotheses: — H1.There is a positive and significant relationship between ethics and organizational performance.— H2. There is a positive and significant relationship between ethics and intellectual capital.— H3. There is a positive and significant relationship between intelle… - Case
A case with no independent institution to investigate
…an institutional investigation. However, in the absence of an independent institution that we could ask to investigate, we are seeking advice from the forum on how to proceed once we receive author B's explanation. Question(s) for the COPE Forum (1) In the absence of an independent institution, how do the Forum suggest we proceed once we receive… - Research
CrossCheck guidance: an analysis of typical cases of plagiarism in different disciplines 2010
…JZUS-A/B & FITEE. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Appl Phys & Eng) 2015;16(6):507–12. http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus/download/Policy_new.pdf Helen Zhang, has published a book, Against Plagiarism. The book is based on work that… - Case
Author impersonating corresponding author without knowledge of coauthors
We received an article which was accepted and published after an uneventful peer review process. The article was apparently written by seven authors from two universities. As part of our routine processes, all co-authors were alerted to a submission via the email addresses provided by the submitting author. Some time after the article had been published, we received an email from the cor… - Forum discussion topics
COPE Forum 8 July 2014: ethical review
…remit of Research Ethics Committees (RECs) is the consideration of research, and the Health Research Authority (HRA) holds firmly to the view that health research should undergo independent ethical review. Audit, service evaluation and public health surveillance, usually of minimal risk, are excluded under official policy (GAfREC 2.3.12 - Case
Data availability for vulnerable populations
A paper on a vulnerable population was published in a journal. The journal followed their usual procedures for processing papers on vulnerable populations, by requesting and reviewing further information on the ethics approval and consent procedures of the study (e.g.: recruitment procedures; blank version of the consent document participants read and signed; the study protocol that was approve… Membership application FAQ
…A decision on your application can only be made if subcommittee members have access to the content. Back to top When can I expect a decision on my application? Applications are assessed manually and it takes time to ensure that we do this carefully and thoroughly. Our current processing time is approximately 12 months. We are…- News
In the news: March Digest
…science - in an effort to decolonise science communication.https://www.theopennotebook.com/2019/02/12/decolonizing-science-writing-in-south-africa Data management The people behind Springer-Nature's data sharing policies explain why understanding the need for data… - News
Letter from the COPE co-Chairs: February 2019
…1997, via formal registration as a charity in 2007, and onwards to the membership organisation we are now with more than 12,000 members and many, many valuable resources that people all over the world use. Liz was one of the good people that got COPE started on our amazing journey. So it is with great warmth that we wish you, Liz, all COPE’s very best for your retirement, and all the very best for… - Case
Possible plagiarism and fabrication
…with placebo for the difference in the incidence of nausea. 12. The second paper cites the first paper twice, once in the introduction and once in the discussion. Both citations are out of any context. According to the Royal College of Physician of London (1991), this represents serious scientific misconduct as it is about piracy, plagiarism, and fraud. It is very likely that actually all the data in…