- News
In the news: November Digest
…publishing choices. https://thinkchecksubmit.org/2019/10/17/think-check-submit-looks-forward-to-collaboration-on-new-research-programme/ Allegations of misconduct An investigation by King’s College London has found 26 of… - Case
Compromised peer review (unpublished)
A manuscript was flagged to editor X as having received reviewers’ reports indicating very high interest. At that point the manuscript had been through one round of review, revision and re-review, and all three reviewers were advising that the manuscript be accepted without further revision. On checking the credentials of the three reviewers, editor X was unable to find the publication… - Case
Reviewer anonymity in post publication peer review
…reviewer. The extent of the potential conflict needs to be assessed. How consequential were the conflicts of interest? Does the whistleblower have a conflict as well? The issue of methodological problems may or may not be reason for retraction. It seems that there were grounds for suspicion, but not clear evidence of misconduct. Based on - Case
Alleged plagiarism
_ The author was somewhat naïve in using a fictitious letter to start his article, but it was not necessary to declare that it was a device. _ It highlights the problem of mistaking notes taken from published material as the author’s own. _ Contact the institution of the author of Journal A. _ An independent assessment should made. If there are substantive findings, the journal should report… - Case
A patient was given an experimental course of complementary medicine when a standard treatment was available
…outweigh the patient’s preference. _ The editors should write to the regulatory authorities as the course of action taken had endangered both the patient and other people. _ The police might also have the jurisdiction to investigate. _ The burden of investigation does not lie with editors; it is their duty to inform the relevant authorities.… - Case
A case of parallel publication?
The committee agreed that it was entirely acceptable to publish a paper in a foreign language journal and then in an English journal provided the first paper is cited in the second journal, and it is made clear to the editor at submission. Both journals should give consent as the first journal has copyright. Although in the case of this particular journal there was no explicit advice on this… - Case
Multiple failure to declare a relevant conflict of interest
The journal brought the previously published article lacking a declaration of the potential conflict of interest to the attention of the authors of that article and requested that they supply a corrected declaration for publication as an rrratum. The authors agreed and the erratum has been published. It appears this was a case of omission rather than anything else and the journal has not… - Case
Author disagreement regarding article corrections
…until now). The corresponding author disagrees with the addition to the conflict of interest statement because there is no conflict of interest, only a difference of opinion. Moreover, he argues that, as scientists, we must be aware that all of our work has limitations, and recognize that these limitations are part of what drives scientific progress. Question(s) for the COPE… - Seminars and webinars
Seminar 2021: Ethical authorship versus fraudulent authorship
…href="https://publicationethics.org/events/cope-seminar-2021">nine webinars as part of the COPE Seminar 2021. - News
Research Data: Institutions are key to management and post-publication concerns
…institutions with sponsored funds. Because research funds are awarded to the institutions and not to individual investigators, the institutions have the responsibility to oversee management of the data, and as such, retain ownership of the data. Institutional policies clarify research data retention according to federal policies and consistent with institutional record retention schedules, which is… - News
Case discussion: Editing peer review comments
…in Melbourne, held in conjunction with ISTME, and our March Forum with advice on new cases submitted by members and the topic discussion, editing of reviewer comments. Plus the roundup of news as gathered by COPE Council members. Read February Digest: Editing reviewer comments | COPE strategy… - News
In the news: March & April 2022
…-sustainable-development-publishing-ethics-and-the-north-south-divide/">Global North-South divide in the ethics of scholarly publishing? Journal of Scholarly Publishing is welcoming submissions for a special issue on diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility in policies and practices in scholarly publishing. Desk-rejection without review is described in this study as a potential source of - Event
COPE webinar: managing paper mills
…issues in publishing, including the investigation and management of complex cases such as peer review manipulation in paper mills. Jigisha now uses her experience to help journals and publishers to resolve complex cases of research misconduct and provides a variety of training for journal editors, publishers and institutions on research integrity, including a CPD-certified course on research integrity… - Case
Retrospective correction: how far back do we go?
…the journal a filler article, using this story as a lesson about the possible unreliability of conclusions from single case reports. The writer of the filler article did not give a reference to the paper or the journal, but since he seemed to be suggesting misleading and inaccurate publication, he was asked for the reference and it turned out that the journal was responsible. It is clear that the… - Case
Potential redundant publication
…institution to request it also reviews the researchers’ raw data. _ How can the editors pursue this course of action if they do not wish to publish the paper? If the editors told the authors of their intention not to publish, their position would be weakened and the authors might not bother to reply. _ Editors are privileged whistleblowers as they are harder to attack than a colleague expressing concerns… - Case
Lack of patient consent for a case report, patient confidentiality
…consent was not sought from the child’s legal guardians as the child was placed with the social services and lost to follow-up. The authors believe the case report should be published to raises awareness among clinicians about potential symptoms of non-accidental injury in children, even though they cannot provide consent from the child or the child’s guardians to publish. The editorial staff… - Case
Duplicate submission
…would not happen in the future. We are unsure as to how to proceed. If we go ahead with the review of the manuscript, this sends a message to the authors that there are no consequences for their misconduct (whether or not it was an honest mistake). Therefore, we would like to have COPE’s advice on the best course of action. We have put review of the paper on hold.… - Case
Homeoprophylactic treatment of a zoonotic disease
…provide supporting documentation. They stated they would include a paragraph on ethical considerations in the text, but argued that the principle aim of the study was to report the results of a healthcare intervention as a response to an emergency situation and was not classical clinical trial research. They further argued that the product used in the intervention is a registered product of common use… - Guidelines
A short guide to ethical editing for new editors
This short guide aims to summarise the key principles, tasks and relationships of the journal editor role. Becoming an editor of a journal is an exciting but daunting task, especially if you are working alone without day to day contact with editorial colleagues. You may have encountered several different processes, systems and ways of working in your experiences with journals, as author,…