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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 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 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 >
Thank you for your continued support of COPE and we wish you every success during this year.
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Daniel Kulp, COPE Chair
Nancy Chescheir, COPE Vice-Chair
Natalie Ridgeway, COPE Executive Officer
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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 >
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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:
ALL CASES >
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STUDIES REQUIRING ETHICS APPROVAL
What policies and practices should journals have in place for research that involves animals or people?
COPE POSITION >
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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 >
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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 >
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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.
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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
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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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