View this email in your browser ([link removed])
COPE Digest
January 2025
New for 2025
Welcome to the January issue of COPE Digest.
Welcome to 2025! Another year is upon us, and, collectively, we continue to face dramatic changes in scholarly publishing. Publishers, journals, and their published content have never been so closely scrutinised. There are also increasing challenges to maintaining the integrity of the published record, such as paper mills. Below, we summarise just a few of the initiatives we have already undertaken or are planning as part of our new strategic plan ([link removed]) for this year.
Our goals
To achieve our goals we aim to provide expert guidance to uphold the integrity of the scholarly record by:
* Articulating clear ethical principles
* Empowering stakeholders in publication integrity
* Bringing people together to solve challenges
* Representing diverse scholarly publishing communities
Your involvement will be crucial as we move forward to implement these goals; do look out for ways to get involved in future issues of COPE Digest.
Upcoming guidance documents
In 2025, we will be developing new guidance on:
* Issuing expressions of concern
* Managing guest-edited collections guidelines
* Disclosing, applying, and administering author fees and waivers
* Crediting organisations in scholarly publications
* Declaring funding sources in published articles
In addition, we will be publishing a thorough revision of the Retraction Guidelines.
We will continue to develop new guidance and resources to meet the needs of our diverse membership of journals, publishers, university and research institutes, individuals, and organisations. This will include supporting members in underrepresented disciplines and regions, and publishers of books and conference proceedings. Please let us know ([link removed]) if there are topics you want us to consider.
Events schedule
We are currently finalising our events schedule for 2025. Publication Integrity Week will return and is scheduled to take place in November. We are also planning for a webinar on expressions of concern / retractions to coincide with the launch of the new and revised guidelines, more on AI and DEIA topics, among many others. Do keep an eye on our website and COPE Digest for further announcements.
Some of our initiatives during 2025
* Opening membership to all universities and research institutes following the pilot
* Further developments to the website and using your feedback to help us serve you better
* New journal membership process to meet the needs of applicants
* Introducing changes to Facilitation and Integrity remit and process
* More opportunities to take part in topic discussions
* Broader participation in COPE activities from the new Board of Advisors
Read more about these initiatives in our January letter.
JANUARY LETTER ([link removed]) >
Thank you for your continued support of COPE and we wish you every success during this year.
Daniel Kulp, COPE Chair
Nancy Chescheir, COPE Vice-Chair
Natalie Ridgeway, COPE Executive Officer
COPE’S COMMITMENTS TO THE UN PUBLISHER COMPACT
COPE’s Trustee Board has agreed a commitment to three of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN SDG Publishers Compact. They are:
* Quality education
* Reduced inequalities
* Peace, justice, and strong institutions
These goals were chosen because they align with the vision COPE has had since its foundation: to promote a future where ethical practice in scholarly research and its publication are the norm. With the launch of our new strategy we are in an even stronger position to embed them at the heart of our work. Read the COPE editorial to find out how we plan to fulfil our commitments.
COPE EDITORIAL ([link removed]) >
** NEW COPE FORUM CASES
------------------------------------------------------------
New cases were submitted to the COPE Forum in December. Read the full case with a summary of the discussion and advice offered by participants of the Forum:
* Acknowledging use of animal methods which are now banned ([link removed])
Journals in animal and medical sciences sometimes have to deal with submissions that are based on methods no longer considered ethical. Editors must consider whether to publish these submissions, publish with an editorial note to explain the situation, or adhere to a different ethical position.
* How can we defend against AI-generated articles being used as a denial of service attack? ([link removed])
A journal is facing a rise in AI-generated articles, including both nonsensical content and high-quality fakes that mimic their template. How can an interdisciplinary journal defend against such attacks with limited resources?
* Is it legitimate for a commercial company to print a summary of a published article? ([link removed])
The summary, which is four pages long, includes a figure with clinical recommendations reproduced verbatim, and is distributed to physicians through drug representatives. Can the authors ask a pharmaceutical company to do this without permission from the journal?
* Geopolitical boundaries questioned in a published article ([link removed])
A journal has received a complaint about maps in a published paper that reference regions not recognised by the United Nations as part of the stated country. The Forum participants discussed how they would handle this issue and similar situations.
ALL CASES ([link removed]) >
STUDIES REQUIRING ETHICS APPROVAL
What policies and practices should journals have in place for research that involves animals or people?
COPE POSITION ([link removed]) >
UNDERSTANDING CURRENT GUIDANCE FOR USE OF AI
Recent dialogues with researchers, publishers, librarians, and other stakeholders reveal that while many are aware of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on publishing, there is less familiarity with the existing frameworks and guidelines for using AI.
How can we more effectively disseminate, comprehend, and apply the guidance that is already available?
Join the discussion!
DISCUSSION ([link removed]) >
** EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN
------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Moylan and Heather Tierney introduce the forthcoming Expressions of Concern guidelines and raise points for discussion: the situations when an expression of concern is appropriate; their purpose; potential challenges; and how they should be issued. Add your comments to the discussion.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION AND DISCUSSION ([link removed]) >
** COPE FORUM
------------------------------------------------------------
COPE Members Only
COPE Members: if you have a publication ethics issue you are currently dealing with and need advice from other Members, submit your case for discussion and advice at the Forum, or from COPE Council.
The next COPE Forum will be held on Thursday 20 March beginning with a topic discussion, followed by discussion and advice by the participants about the cases submitted by COPE Members.
[link removed]
[link removed]
** UNITED2ACT INSIGHTS
Publication Integrity Week 2024
------------------------------------------------------------
The presenters share insights into United2Act projects and outline their draft resources. United2Act's aim is to work across stakeholder groups, believing that collaborative action is the only way to tackle the threat of paper mills for scholarly publishing.
VIDEO AND SUMMARY ([link removed])
** 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 ([link removed]) before submitting your article.
** COPE Digest Editors:
------------------------------------------------------------
Itamar Ashkenazi, COPE Council Member
Trevor Lane, COPE Trustee and Council Member
Managing Editor, Sarah Gillmore, COPE Engagement & Outreach Officer
============================================================
** facebook.com/publicationethics ([link removed])
** facebook.com/publicationethics ([link removed])
** @C0PE ([link removed])
** @C0PE ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** Publicationethics.org ([link removed])
Copyright ©2025 COPE,
All rights reserved.
Registered charity No 1123023. Registered in England and Wales, Company No 6389120
Registered office: New Kings Court, Tollgate, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 3LG, UK
You are receiving this email because you or your journal is a member of COPE or you have subscribed to COPE emails.
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
