The COPE Report 1999. Guidelines on good publication practice

Committee on Publication Ethics

1. Study design and ethical approval
Definition
Good research should be well justified, well planned, appropriately designed and ethically approved. To conduct research to a lower standard may constitute misconduct.

Action

2. Data analysis
Definition
Data should be analysed appropriately, but inappropriate analysis does not necessarily amount to misconduct. Fabrication and falsification of data do constitute misconduct.

Action

3. Authorship
Definition
There is no universally agreed definition of authorship, although attempts have been made. As a minimum authors should take responsibility for a particular section of the study.

Action

4. Conflicts of interest
Definition
Conflicts of interest comprise those which may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgement of author, reviewers and editors.

They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. `Financial' interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and company support for staff.

Action

5. Peer review
Definition
Peer reviewers are external experts chosen by editors to provide written opinions, with the aim of improving the study. Working methods vary from journal to journal, but some use open procedures in which the name of the reviewer is disclosed, together with the full or `edited' report.

Action

6. Redundant publication
Definition
Redundant publication occurs when two or more papers, without full cross-reference, share the same hypothesis, data, discussion points or conclusions.

Action

7. Plagiarism
Definition
Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others' published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications, to submission under '`new"authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language.

It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing or publication: it applies to print and electronic versions.

Action

8. Duties of editors
Definition
Editors are the stewards of journals. They usually take over their journal from the previous editor(s) and always want to hand over the journal in good shape.

Most editors provide direction for the journal and build a strong management team.

They must consider and balance the interests of many constituents, including readers, authors, staff, owners, editorial board members, advertisers and the media.

Action

9. Media relations
Definition
Medical research findings are of increasing interest to the print and broadcast media.

Journalists may attend scientific meetings, at which preliminary research findings are presented, leading to their premature publication in the mass media.

Action

10. Advertising
Definition
Many scientific journals and meetings derive significant income from advertising.

Reprints may also be lucrative.

Action

11. Dealing with misconduct
Principles

Investigating misconduct

Serious misconduct

Less serious misconduct

Sanctions
Sanctions may be applied separately or combined. The following are ranked in approximate order of severity.





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