- Case
A falling out
…What do we do about the alleged and apparently disputed erratum? Should journals have a clear policy about authors (all, some, the senior, or only the corresponding) seeing galley proofs? If so,what should the policy be?… - Case
Alleged plagiarism
…different authors and were not the sole provenance of that author. Although it is true that employers may have vested interests, this does not necessarily mean they are corrupt. The notion of conscious plagiarism implies that the plagiarism is intentional; unconscious plagiarism is unintentional. It is the former that attracts sanction, and the intention must be proven. The point of requesting an internal… - Case
A patient was given an experimental course of complementary medicine when a standard treatment was available
…the authors’ medical practice and judgement into question. _ The editor should write to the authors again with a short deadline, informing them that the matter would be referred to both the authors’ employers and the appropriate regulatory body. _ Even if the patient had pleaded for the alternative therapy, the fact that the disease is infectious and potential fatal means that public interest would… - Case
Clear case of duplicate publication?
…not acceptable behaviour. Some of the members of the Forum suggested taking the matter further and contacting the authors’ institution, informing the Dean of the Faculty of the facts of the case. The Forum also raised the question of the three new authors on the second paper and suggested that the author should be reminded of the criteria for authorship.… - Case
Author creates bogus email accounts for proposed reviewers
The Forum agreed that this was a serious form of misconduct and may even be criminal, as the author was impersonating the reviewers. The advice was to contact the author’s institution and inform them of the situation, explaining the author’s inappropriate behaviour. Other advice was to look at the peer review of previous submissions/publications from this author in case they also involved… United2Act launches action against paper mills
…on the identified areas. We are all committed to delivering real progress over the next 12 months and will be reporting on these actions regularly.” There are five key areas for working groups to plan action and execute: education and awareness, improve post-publication corrections, research paper mills, enable the development of trust markers, and continue to bring together the many voices…- News
Journal management focus
…processes (e.g. editorial handling, peer review model, average and range of time to decision, ethical standards, data availability…), and the structure employed by the journal to ensure editorial independence, should all be clearly and visibly described and presented. COPE offers several resources in support of attaining these objectives. For example, • the archive of - News
Editing, reviewing and writing during COVID-19
…many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus. There is worldwide concern over COVID-19 and its impact on our daily lives, both personal and professional. Journal editors may be unsure of what to do in this unprecedented situation. How is COVID-19 affecting editors and publishers? Letter from the… - News
In the news: March & April 2022
…href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001572">correction of published record is too slow to be effective, specific steps to remedy the academia's willingness and ability to do so are offered in this article. Journal management Cross-Ref is seeking feedback on a proposed registry intended to encourage best… Cookie policy
…different types of cookies, benefits of cookies and how you can manage cookies in your browser, so that you can view, delete or even block certain types of cookies. Cookies on the COPE website We use cookies to determine whether you have already consented to our cookie policy. Other cookies may be set by our content management system to support the technical…- Case
Co authors’ unwillingness to support retraction of a review
_ If the figure was originally Professor W’s and published in 1990, then the original journal would have copyright over the figure. _ If the review was adequate without the figure, then the journal could either withdraw the figure or acknowledge the original copyright holder. _ The original slide would have to be studied to make a correct assessment of the professor’s claim. _ How could… - Case
Possible breach of reviewer confidentiality
…reviewers and knew that the person who asked the question was not one of the reviewers. The authors are concerned that one of the reviewers may be a colleague or collaborator with the person who asked the question. After receiving the author’s letter, I emailed the two reviewers to inform them of our concern about confidentiality and to ask if they shared the manuscript or its contents and, if so,… - Guidelines
A short guide to ethical editing for new editors
…to complaints, and cases of possible misconduct/inappropriate behaviour. Follow discussions on new publishing models, new models of peer review and changing practices, and be continuously thinking about ways your journal might develop. Related resources Ethics toolkit for a successful… - Seminars and webinars
Post-publication corrections
…taxonomy of correction notes and comments, and making it easier for readers to raise concerns. Mandating pre-registration of studies could also be helpful in establishing whether research takes place on a trustworthy time-scale. Open research and greater transparency in peer review are all worthy aims, but there is also a need to address the root causes of some of the problems like paper mills. The… Subcommittees and working groups
…advise the Trustee Board on specific areas of COPE's operations. Each subcommittee consists of a Chair, usually at least four other Council members and, ex-officio, the Executive Officer. Additional individuals may be recruited as needed to complete specific tasks. The Trustee Board has delegated authority to the subcommittees to implement their objectives. Its decisions are reported to the…- News
In the news: November 2020
…to honest error; and, the stigma of retractions can be hard to clean up. Research integrity The authors of this paper analysed 250 citations from five leading scientific journals. They found 25% of quotation references are incorrect or misleading or fail to provide evidence for the claims… - Translated resources
El autor solicita que ciertos expertos no participen en el proceso editorial: caso
…editorial de la revista: «Nos reservamos el derecho de enviar los manuscritos a los revisores de nuestra elección». Basado en el caso 16-08 Author requests for certain experts not to be included in the editorial process Related resources - Case
A(uthor) vs C(omplainant) authorship dispute
…journal T, A strongly refuted its key points. Journal T’s position has been to ask institute X to investigate fully the above allegations (including communicating with A) and to make an official statement linked to the case. However, we seek COPE’s recommendation whether this should be our position or whether they would advise a different approach.… - Case
HIV homeopathy
The Forum questioned whether in fact there was a local ethics committee, which may be a reason why the authors obtained approval in their own country. However, the Forum was unanimous in their view that the authors had behaved unethically. All agreed that the editor had done all he could and there is little more action that he can take, although some advised contacting the ethics committee or… - Case
Inadequate reporting of a trial, despite earlier rejection from a different journal
…author to the journal (ie, the protocol) should not be sent to another journal, as this is privileged/confidential information. It is up to the second journal to contact the author and ask for this material. If the author does not respond, then the journal that had actually published his work (journal 2) should contact the author’s institution.…