- Guidelines
Retraction guidelines
…COPE's Retraction guidelines for advice and guidance for editors: when should a retraction be considered, what to include in a notice, how quickly to issue a retraction, who should issue a retraction, and what to do when there is inconclusive evidence of a retraction. COPE Guidelines are formal COPE policy and are intended to advise editors and publishers on expected publication et… - Guidelines
Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity and publication misconduct cases
Research institutions and journals both have important duties in the management of research misconduct and adherence to publication ethics. It is therefore important for institutions and journals to communicate and collaborate effectively. These COPE guidelines deal with the expectations and processes for communication. Ensuring research and publication integrity requires that institutio… - Case
Late addition of co-authors
An article was submitted to our journal with two authors listed. Proofs were approved with these two authors listed. However, two months after publication the corresponding author claimed that the article had actually been submitted on the website with six authors. The journal considers the final list of authors to be those listed on the title page at the first submission step. The autho… - CaseOn-going
Authors request withdrawal of a 19-year old article
We have been approached by the authors of an article published about 19 years ago stating that they have found an error in a mathematical proof in their research. As a result, although the main theorem proposed in the paper should still be true, they would need to completely revise the text and intend in the longer run to find a new proof. They recognise that the paper as published cannot stand… - CaseOn-going
Correction, retraction, or expression of concern?
Recently, we received a review report from PubMedCentral for the indexing application of one of our journals. Reviewers pointed out several shortcomings of particular articles below: 1. Discussions that did not thoroughly address limitations, and conclusions that were over-stated and/or not supported by the results. 2. Methods that were not described clearly and in sufficient deta… - CaseOn-going
Stolen ownership of a rare case
A case report was published in our journal after being approved by a peer reviewer and subjected to a technical review. The first author was a post-graduate trainee attached to the department of pathology of a prestigious national institute. A month later we received an email from a resident working at a specialist department of another institute claiming that the patient belonged to them and a… - CaseOn-going
Publishing corrections for articles in inactive journals
Two articles published in 2006 and 2008 (by different author groups) had image integrity concerns that have been raised to the publisher. The journal verified independently that these image duplication concerns are valid and reached out to the corresponding authors first and upon not receiving a response subsequently sent emails to all authors multiple times. But due to the age of the pa… - CaseOn-going
Same cohort - same blood samples - multiple tests
This is a hypothetical situation based on a real-life experience. A set of authors recruited the same patient cohort, collected data with two questionnaires, took one blood sample, but tests were done by two research students for two pathogens, and the results were presented separately in two theses. Subsequently, they sent different papers to two journals. No plagiarism has been identif… - CaseOn-going
Plagiarism by a possible predatory journal
An article published in a journal in 2023 appears to have been plagiarised in a possible predatory journal but the publishers are unable to get a response from the predatory journal or affiliated Institute. The article (Article A) was submitted to Journal X in 2022 and published early in 2023. The authors reached out to the Journal after finding that another article dated from 2021 (Art… - CaseCase Closed
Potential image integrity flags on 15-year-old published papers
What should a journal do if an old (more than 15 years old) published paper is flagged on PubPeer for image concerns, but the case cannot be resolved due to the time lapsed? For example, if only low quality images are available online that cannot be analysed conclusively; some of the key authors may no longer be contactable; the raw data is no longer available; an institutional investigation is… - Seminars and webinars
Post-publication critiques
This panel discussion, hosted by COPE Council member, Kim Eggleton, featured four speakers who are experts in promoting post-publication critiques. The panel discussion was part of COPE's Publication Integrity Week 2023. - Seminars and webinars
Publication ethics, research integrity and climbing mountains
In this keynote address Chris Graf (Research Integrity Director, Springer Nature) gives an overview of the present state of publication ethics and research integrity. This discussion is one of eleven sessions hosted by COPE during Publication Integrity Week 2023. - Seminars and webinars
Post-publication corrections
This discussion panel features Elizabeth Moylan (Senior Manager, Research Integrity Strategy & Policy at Wiley), Mark Hooper (Manager, Research Ethics and Integrity at the Queensland University of Technology), and Jennifer Byrne (publication integrity ‘sleuth’ and the University of Sydney), talking about dealing with issues that arise after publication has taken p… - Seminars and webinars
Image manipulation
In this session, Jana Christopher, Image Data Integrity Analyst at FEBS Press, offers an authoritative overview of current issues and tools in detecting image manipulation. This discussion was part of 'Publication Misconduct and Fraud Day' hosted by COPE during Publication Integrity Week 2023.… - Seminars and webinars
Introduction to publication ethics and the COPE ethics toolkit
In this session, COPE Trustee Trevor Lane and Council Member Siri Lunde Stromme (co-chair of the COPE Membership subcommittee) introduce the basic principles of publication ethics and how to use guidance and tools available to ensure publication ethics is embedded in a journal's day to day practice. This discussion is one of eleven sessions hosted by COPE durin… - CaseOn-going
Author retracts request to be removed from author list
An author of a coauthored article published in our journal ten years ago contacted the outgoing editors with a request to have their name removed. The author in question is Dr A of University 1 and they are the paper’s first author. Their stated reason for doing so was that they had recently discovered errors in a table in the paper. The second author on the paper, Dr B, provided the original d… - CaseCase Closed
Request for retraction due to alleged ethical misconduct in a grant application
A journal received a request from University A for a published paper to be retracted, citing ethical issues with the grant application submitted by an author from University B. The journal is satisfied that the rigorous editorial processes required by the journal were followed prior to publication and asked for specific details of the ethical breach; evidence that all authors on the publication… - CaseCase Closed
Complaint over protocol used in special issue
We launched a Special Issue (SI) focusing on the application of a particular clinical protocol, with guest editors that have an extensive clinical history in applying this protocol. This specific protocol is currently used and promoted by a small subset of practitioners, with limited wider recognition. The SI concluded with a substantial number of published articles, including several case repo… - CaseCase Closed
Ukrainian authors request retraction of article in Russian conference proceedings
A journal has been contacted by a group of authors from Ukraine who wish to retract their article because of acute ethical issues in relation to the war with Russia. The authors are employees of a research institute in Ukraine. When preparing their article they were not fully informed about the country of the organisers of the conference. They are concerned that participation in a Russian confe… - Discussion documents
Dealing with concerns about the integrity of published research
This guidance presents practical considerations for managing scenarios where editors are contacted with ethical concerns about the integrity of published research. In recent years, reporting of ethical concerns about research publications has become more prevalent, and the issues identified have become more complex. This includes situations where multiple concerns are raised simultaneous…