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Welcome to the April issue of COPE Digest.
COPE, like many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus and we are sorry to inform you that our Trustee Board made the difficult decision to postpone our North American seminar planned for June 2020. Clearly, the health of our members and staff is our first priority, and we hope to announce a new date in 2021 in the coming months.
This month’s focus is on new editors or editors who have recently been introduced to particular issues related to publication ethics. Over the years, a number of editors have shared their experience with me of getting to know COPE, first through the need to address a vexatious problem in publication ethics. If this is you, or if you’d like a refresher on some of these issues, we can recommend the following:
- A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors
- The eLearning Module ‘Introduction to Publication Ethics’. This one module is also available in Spanish and Chinese
- Core Practices on the COPE website is a one stop shopping guide to COPE resources, including discussion documents, flowcharts, guidelines, and case studies under 10 distinct types of publications ethics issues. It allows you to find all the relevant material on an issue (eg, authorship and contributorship).
Our case discussion this month is case 19-11: Withdrawal of a paper at the proof stage. Thanks to Council Member, Trevor Lane, for his presentation and analysis of the case.
As many of you know, COPE has been considering the issue of editing of reviewer comments. At our recent Forum it was interesting to hear participants expressing opinions that they would consider editing comments that they found unethical, inappropriate, or hostile.
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We would like to hear your views on an editor's ability to alter the contents of a submitted peer review in our survey...
READ MORE >
COPE Chair Deborah Poff
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WITHDRAWAL OF PAPER AT PROOF STAGE
An original paper was submitted to a journal, peer reviewed, revised by the authors, and accepted by the manuscript editor. It was scheduled for publication 3 months later. After the paper was copyedited and typeset, the corresponding author was informed of the acceptance and was asked to proofread the article. After 2 weeks, however, the corresponding author requested that the paper be withdrawn. The chief editor asked for an explanation and brought the case to COPE Forum.
This case discussion includes advice from the Forum and goes on to further analyse the case with ideas on how to address this and similar situations.
READ THE DISCUSSION >
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EDITING OF REVIEWER COMMENTS: SURVEY
Following our Forum discussion on this topic, we would like to hear your views on an editor's ability to alter the contents of a submitted peer review. Views from editors and publishers will form the basis of a COPE discussion document on the topic. Please fill in the short survey
ADD YOUR VIEWS >
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LATEST PUBLICATION ETHICS NEWS
This month COPE Council members have gathered news items that include articles on research integrity, conflicts of interest, preprints, data and reproducibility, and more. Here are just a few:
- The United States Office of Science & Technology Policy recently posted a notice of request for information titled “Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting from Federally Funded Research.” Comments from stakeholders on approaches for broader access to federally funded research are due by 16 March 2020.
- Following concerns over the proliferation of predatory journals and research misconduct, India’s University Grants Commission has new guidelines requiring universities to train PhD students on research and publication ethics.
- ICMJE are asking for feedback on their proposed disclosure form. Comments will be collected until 30 April 2020;
- The journal Research Ethics, a COPE member, recently published an interesting article titled “Should research misconduct be criminalized?”
READ MORE >
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COPE WORKSHOP: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
15 SEPTEMBER 2020
Following on from the success of previous COPE workshops with ISMTE (International Society of Managing and Technical Editors), we are running another half day publication ethics workshop in Melbourne.
The workshop is hands-on, with attendees working through publication ethics issues from real cases raised by COPE members including cases on retractions, authorship and predatory publishing. You will identify what next steps should be taken, with the help of COPE Council members.
COPE Council members Michael Wise and Trevor Lane will run the workshop using the collective advice and guidance from COPE as well as their own perspectives.
READ MORE >
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SEMINAR: OHIO, USA
POSTPONED
COPE, like many organisations, is grappling with the impact of the coronavirus and we are sorry to inform you that our Trustee Board made the difficult decision to postpone our North American seminar which we had planned for June 2020. The health of our members and staff is our first priority, and we hope to announce a new date in 2021 in the coming months.
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CSE ANNUAL MEETING
2-5 May 2020
PORTLAND, USA
Heather Tierney, COPE Council, is a panellist discussing retractions at the CSE editorial policy ethics clinic.
MORE INFORMATION >
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SOCIETY FOR SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING ANNUAL MEETING
27-29 May 2020
BOSTON, USA
Rachel Safer, COPE Council, is speaking at this sponsored session 'Rethinking equity, inclusion, and ethics in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences to future-proof standards in research communication'.
MORE INFORMATION >
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Please check CSE and SSP websites before travelling to their Annual Meetings, as they continue to monitor developments surrounding the coronavirus. There are no plans to cancel or postpone at this time.
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Visit our events page to read more about upcoming events which include discussions on publication ethics:
- International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) Annual Meeting, 20-22 April 2020, Washington DC, USA. ISMPP are offering a discount to COPE members.
- International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE) Asia-Pacific Conference, 14-15 September 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. ISMTE are offering a discount to COPE members.
Please note there has been a change of date for this conference
- The Ninth International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication, September 2021 in Chicago, USA
SEE EVENTS >
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COPE Digest Editor:
Nancy C Chescheir, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Obstetrics and Gynecology
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