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Guidelines on good publication and the Code of Conduct
Why the guidelines were developed
COPE was founded in 1997 to address breaches of research and publication ethics. A voluntary body providing a discussion forum and advice for scientific editors, it aims to find practical ways of dealing with the issues, and to develop good practice.
We thought it essential to attempt to define best practice in the ethics of scientific publishing. These guidelines should be useful for authors, editors, editorial board members, readers, owners of journals, and publishers.
Intellectual honesty should be actively encouraged in all medical and scientific courses of study, and used to inform publication ethics and prevent misconduct. It is with that in mind that these guidelines have been produced.
How the guidelines were developed
The guidelines were developed from a preliminary version drafted by individual members of the committee, which was then submitted to extensive consultation. They address: study design and ethical approval, data analysis, authorship, conflict of interests, the peer review process, redundant publication, plagiarism, duties of editors, media relations, advertising, and how to deal with misconduct.
What they aim to do
These guidelines are intended to be advisory rather than prescriptive, and to evolve over time. We hope that they will be disseminated widely, endorsed by editors, and refined by those who use them.
Code of conduct for editors of biomedical journals
The COPE code of conduct builds on our guidelines for good publication practice and has undergone wide consultation with editors and publishers. We are extremely grateful for the helpful feedback we have received.
The code sets out standards of good editorial conduct. It also calls on editors to take seriously their role as guardians of biomedical science by taking all reasonable steps to ensure that allegations of research misconduct are properly investigated. Finally it establishes a mechanism for dealing with complaints against editors that have not been resolved by the journal’s own complaints procedure. This service is only available to members of COPE.
The code is very much a living document, one that will evolve with use. Our next major chance to review the code will be at the COPE seminar in March 2006. We are keen to evaluate the effectiveness of the code as a means of raising standards of editorial conduct, and would therefore be very grateful if members could complete and return the accompanying checklist.
