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Welcome to the December issue of COPE Digest.
A lot has happened since our last newsletter when we were in the days leading up to Publication Integrity Week. Building on last year's event we held 16 sessions during the week and this year opened some to non-members to reach a broader audience. Over 1,000 people, from 75 countries, registered for sessions and many took part in valuable discussions across the week. In this newsletter you will find videos from Publication Integrity Week: "Authorship for sale", "Is there a crisis in peer review?", and "Insights from the United2Act Working Groups". There will be more videos to come which we will highlight in future issues of Digest.
We followed Publication Integrity Week with the launch of a new COPE website which we hope you’ve had a chance to visit. Some of our favourite features include a new discussion topic area where you can take part in the conversation wherever you are in the world and whatever the time of day. We have introduced a COPE Focus area which brings together our most important resources on particular topics, launching with a focus on artificial intelligence, paper mills, and how we can make English-language publishing more accessible. Look out for new COPE Focus topics in the coming weeks.
As you use the website we would appreciate your feedback to help us improve the experience.
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You may also notice that you are now being asked to log in to access some of our free website content. This represents the first step on a journey to provide a better experience for our members and the wider professional community. We remain committed to making our guidance freely accessible to all website users, but we also want to understand better what you want and need. This will help us to introduce more relevant content and ensure that our guidance remains useful and up to date. While COPE positions, topic discussions, and endorsed guidance will remain as they are, we now require Members and Guest users to log in to access COPE guidelines, discussion documents, flowcharts, seminar and webinar recordings, research and reports. Our goal is simple: to ensure that our resources meet your professional needs. By logging in, you're supporting us to shape our website and its content for the future. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
In addition to the new website, we have also undertaken a comprehensive review of the COPE membership application process over the past 12 months. Key improvements will include supporting potential members through the application process by clarifying expectations and providing clearer guidance, developing consistent assessment criteria and implementing continuous review post-membership. COPE has now temporarily closed applications for new journals and publishers to implement these changes which allows time to set up the new system and for potential applicants to review updated requirements. We aim to reopen applications within a couple of months.
Existing applications already submitted will continue to be assessed as normal. The new process will enhance transparency, efficiency, and alignment with COPE’s core values and objectives.
Finally, this week we held our last COPE Forum of the year for COPE Members. Read the cases which were brought to the Forum and add your comments.
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HANDLING CHANGES TO AUTHORSHIP LISTS
What should editors consider when asked to add or remove authors listed on a manuscript?
What action should they take?
COPE POSITION >
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CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION ON POST-PUBLICATION AMENDMENT
In this editorial Elizabeth Moylan and Heather Tierney outline how Notes and Expressions of Concern are being used to address potential issues in published research. As the community explores the effectiveness of these notices, there are discussions around language used and mechanisms to speed up amendments.
COPE EDITORIAL >
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REVISITING EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN DISCUSSION
This week we held a COPE Forum with a discussion on "Revisiting expressions of concern". Following on earlier discussions about the use of Expressions of Concern, COPE is excited to share the forthcoming release of new guidance for editors and publishers on this topic.
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This discussion introduces the forthcoming Expressions of Concern guidelines and discusses the situations when an expression of concern is appropriate, their purpose, potential challenges and how they should be issued.
Add your comments to the topic discussion.
DISCUSSION TOPIC >
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The use of AI in the publication process is intended to increase the speed of decision making during the review process and reduce the burden on editors, reviewers, and authors. The adoption of AI raises key ethical issues around accountability, responsibility, and transparency. See our key resources on AI:
COPE FOCUS ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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IS THERE A CRISIS IN PEER REVIEW?
In this conversation from Publication Integrity Week, Paul Fisher, COPE Council Member, Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of Science and Ruth O’Hara, Senior Associate Dean for research, Stanford Medical School, debate the strengths, challenges, and future of peer review.
VIDEO AND SUMMARY
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AUTHORSHIP FOR SALE
In this session, research integrity specialists Nick Wise, principal supervisor, University of Cambridge, and Anna Abalkina, research fellow, Freie Univertitӓt Berlin, discuss how paper mills operate and how we can look out for signs of paper mills activity online. They discussed:
- Paper mills and authorship for sale: the scientific paper as product
- Authorship for sale from websites and WhatsApp groups
- The challenges of identifying paper mill activity and disciplines vulnerable to targeting
VIDEO AND SUMMARY >
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UNITED2ACT INSIGHTS AND RESOURCES
This year United2Act, a joint project from COPE and STM, has been working to educate and mobilise a diverse coalition of stakeholders committed to collective action against paper mills. In this session United2Act working group chairs describe the focus for their work and what they are doing to address the challenges of paper mills. New draft resources were released at Publication Integrity Week and are shared with you for feedback. The chairs represent working groups:
- Education and awareness
- Post-publication corrections
- Research on paper mills
- Trust markers
- Facilitating dialogue
VIDEO AND SUMMARY >
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A CALL FOR RESEARCH TO ADDRESS THE THREAT OF PAPER MILLS
The United2Act Research on Paper Mills working group has published a perspective in PLOS Research examining the effect of paper mills and the need for research.
"Paper mills are covert organisations that provide low-quality or fabricated manuscripts to paying clients. As members of the United2Act Research Working Group, we propose 5 key research questions on paper mills that require resourcing and support".
PLOS ARTICLE >
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YOUR PUBLICATION ETHICS CASES
COPE Members Only
COPE Members: if you have a publication ethics issue you are currently dealing with and need advice from other COPE members, submit your case for discussion and advice at the Forum or from COPE Council Members.
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Submitting a guest editorial or opinion piece to COPE
We welcome guest editorials and opinion articles regarding research and publication ethics from COPE members. Please read the COPE guest editorial policy before submitting your article.
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COPE Digest Editors:
Itamar Ashkenazi, COPE Council Member
Trevor Lane, COPE Trustee and Council Member
Managing Editor, Sarah Gillmore, COPE Engagement & Outreach Officer
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