- Flowcharts
Undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript
…href="https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines">Retraction Guidelines, COPE guidelines Handling competing interests, COPE discussion document Editorial conflicts of interest, COPE Forum discussion 2022… - Case
Duplicate publication
…from an article written by other authors, they requested the corresponding author to retract the paper. If a letter of retraction was not received the journal indicated it would take steps to withdraw it. Journal A also asked the corresponding author whether s/he was willing to withdraw the article from Journal A. The corresponding author was not prepared to do this, saying he would prefer to defend… - Case
Multiple publication of research
The advice from COPE was to consult the flowchart for “redundant publication in a published paper”. The flowchart advises that you check the degree of overlap. If it is substantial, contact the authors. If an unsatisfactory response is received, the editor should consider publishing a notice of redundant publication or retraction. Sometimes the author makes a genuine mistake or the… - Case
Suspected unattributed text in a published article
…work was initiated and ongoing during the time that the manuscript was being prepared for publication at the journal. The unpublished collaborative work has not yet been published. The reader requested retraction of the published article, with the possibility of a republication only when all collaborators of the unpublished work were in agreement with the article content. The publisher… - Case
Possible image manipulation
…themselves, the final decision could be made by another (senior) editorial board member. Thus the journal could proceed to a retraction if they felt this was the appropriate course of action, following the COPE guidelines for retractions and corrections of the literature. However, given that there is a difference of opinion between the subject experts engaged by the publisher and by the… - Case
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
…place or not, and therefore whether to correct or retract the article. Editors may also feel uncomfortable applying current expectations and practices to articles produced some time ago. While there is no expiry period for an investigation or retraction, therefore, journals should make a decision on their actions on a case by case basis, and be honest about the limits of what they can do. If necessary… - Case
Dispute between two authors
…opinion. Three years later, we received a letter of concern from author A alleging scientific misconduct by author C and demanding that we retract the mini-commentary written by author C. Following discussion among the senior editors of the journal, permission was obtained from author A to allow author C to have sight of this letter in order to allow a response to be made to the accusations made by… - Case
Salami slicing/duplicate publication
…not to declare that similar articles have been extracted and sent to two journals? Does this amount to salami slicing or duplicate publication? Should journal B retract the article from its website as it published the research after the first publication in journal A? … - Case
Critical comment and conflict of interest
…Dr Y again appealed to the Publisher to retract the work due to its noncompliance with the company’s editorial policy and ethics standards. A note has been sent to Dr Y informing them that the Publisher is investigating this issue. The Publisher has concluded that: The tone and language of the paper by Dr X are not appropriate for publication. There are a number of… - Case
Dealing with cases with culturally offensive content
…concerned with forming not only a resolution to this individual case, but a clear policy/guideline for any future cases of a similar kind. The editors and society are concerned that retracting these papers would erase, not only the historical record, but also have the potential to undermine the analytical course by how science progresses. Despite this, the society and editors want to acknowledge the… - Case
Possible plagiarism
…misconduct serious enough to warrant a retraction, or would it be sufficient to publish a correction? … - Case
Concerns over the withdrawal of a complaint
…as a coauthor on the paper under investigation. The journal later received retractions of the complaints from both whistleblowers, one of whom explained that they were receiving pressure from their own institution to do so, and were at risk of losing their job. The journal has opted to continue the investigation, given the Editors had already looked into the paper and felt an… - Case
Lack of ethical approval and not reporting experimental evidence
…These three authors confirm their initial position and encourage the other authors to retract both articles. A copy of the email correspondence between the author and a spokesman for the other institution indicates that the author does not want to do this. A possible conclusion would be to publish the letter to the editor signed by the authors from the institution of the first author as well as… - Case
Reader concerns about ethics approval and consent from a vulnerable population
…took place. At the conclusion of each investigation, the journal decided that retraction of the article was not warranted because the research was carried out in accordance with local institutional standards and journal guidelines. Although the subject area of the article has the potential for dual use, they did not consider it appropriate to retract the article because ethics approval… - Case
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
…findings could be misleading in a damaging manner, and that the case reports in particular lacked scientific rigour. This advisor stated their opinion that most of the published articles should be re-reviewed post-publication or retracted. We have subsequently contacted the leading guest editor for clarification over some of the chief concerns about the protocol, and have received an extensive response,… - Case
Publication of correspondence relating to a paper currently online
…the paper to be retracted. These communications, sent by several nutrition bodies identified in the published paper, felt that the methodology used in the paper was ‘weak and inaccurate’, ‘not scientifically sound’ and intended to cause ‘damage to the reputations’ of people connected to the organisations mentioned. The journal proposed that the complainants voice their concerns through a submitted… - Case
Plagiarism in a case report
…the case report voluntarily. Author A wrote to me requesting formal withdrawal of the case report. However, before I received this letter, Author A telephoned again to say that having taken legal advice he wished to retract this request and leave it with me to decide on the appropriate course of action. The journal subsequently received a letter from the Director of Research… - Case
Paper published that is a verbatim copy of another published one by another author
…We then wrote to the authors informing them of the two discoveries and requesting an explanation, an apology or retraction, and notifying them that we may contact the University President about their unethical behaviour. The senior author withdrew the paper being currently reviewed but nothing else. We then wrote to his University’s President, only to discover a couple of weeks later, through… - Case
Extensive publication errors. Should we 're-publish'?
…suggestion was to retract the article, naming the publisher as the reason for retraction, and publishing the correct version in the retraction notice. Or the editor could publish an erratum, effectively reprinting the article in the erratum notice.… - Case
Authorship dispute
The Forum agreed that the current paper cannot stand in its present form—some form of correction of the literature needs to be done. It is clear that the data are the intellectual property of Dr B, but this is essentially an authorship dispute, and it is up to the authors to resolve it. Although the results of the paper are not in dispute, the editor could decide to retract the paper and tell…