1. Plagiarism… from an Editor’s perspective
Ginny Barbour, Chair, COPE
www.publicationethics.org
@ginnybarbour
#crossref12
November 14, 2012

2. An editor’s perspective
• What is plagiarism in 2012?
• Where does COPE come in?
• Challenges for the future

3. Plagiarism in academic
publications has many forms…
PLOS’ experience in 2012 of submitted papers
• Minor plagiarism – around 5-10%
• Major plagiarism – less than 1%

4. …and self plagiarism

5. Iain Chalmers: Intentional self-plagiarism
I have suggested previously in The Lancet that forms of scientific misconduct
should be ranked by their potential for doing harm to patients: biased
reporting of research, for example, has more serious consequences for
patients than undeserved authorship and plagiarism.2 This sentence is an
example of intentional self-plagiarism. I have reused words used in a
previous publication because they help me to challenge the Editorial's
implication.
The Editorial characterises self-plagiarism in review or opinion papers as “an
attempt to deceive editors and readers”, and that, at best, it “constitutes
intellectual laziness”. Most of my recent publications are “opinion” papers, so
I resent this ex cathedra judgment, unsupported by any references to
empirical evidence.
I reuse my previously used words intentionally in my repeated attempts to
persuade readers and editors to take serious problems seriously.
The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9699, Page 1422, 24 October 2009

6. Detection is better but ≠ solution

7. Education, education…

8. Where COPE comes in
• Education of editors
• Advice to member editors
• Facilitate and lead debate on publishing ethics

9. COPE structure
• Run by an elected international Council
• Current officers are: Ginny Barbour (Chair), Charlotte Haug,
(Vice Chair), Margaret Rees and André van Steirteghem(Co-
Secretaries), and Chris Graf (Treasurer)
• Council members are trustees of COPE as a charity and
directors of COPE as a limited company
• Day-to-day management of COPE’s business affairs is the
responsibility of :
– Operations Manager (Natalie Ridgeway)
– Administrator (Linda Gough)
– Web Manager (Cynthia Clerk)

10. COPE members in 2012...
• More than 7500 members
• International in scope and fully inclusive in subject
matter - all academic disciplines and fields are now
covered, eg:
– Pure and applied sciences
– Biomedicine
– Engineering and technology
– Arts, humanities and social sciences

11. COPE : advice and guidance to
members
"Few journals have the internal resources to deal with
all the complex ethical and procedural issues that
arise from misbehaviour by a small minority of
authors. Fortunately, COPE provides a supportive
community of experienced editorial staff ready to
offer useful advice and share lessons learned from
dealing with similar problems. Decisions can be
made with much greater confidence knowing that
they are supported by one's peers.”
Philip Steer, British Journal of Obstetrics &
Gynaecology

12. COPE in action
• Website – www.publicationethics.org
• Flowcharts
• Cases
• Newsletter
• Forum meetings
• Seminars
• Discussion documents

13. COPE in action:
www.publicationethics.org
 Flowcharts (also available translated into select languages –
more being added)
 Sample letters for handling common problems
 Retraction guidelines
 Presentations
 Other guidance (eg, for editorial boards)
 An eLearning course aimed at new editors (members only)
• A Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guide for Journal
Editors
• A Code of Conduct for Publishers

16. The flowcharts cover:
• Redundant (duplicate) publication
• Plagiarism
• Fabricated data
• Changes in authorship
• Ghost, guest or gift authorship
• Conflicts of interest
• General suspected ethical concerns
• Reviewer misconduct
• How COPE deals with complaints

18. COPE in action: cases
• All cases are entered into online database
on the website
• Searchable by keyword
• Used in e-learning

22. COPE Forum meetings
• Member benefit
• Quarterly meetings
• Most held in London but members can take part
via tele-conference
• First virtual forum planned for 2013
• Also have forum meetings before seminars
Format
• General discussion and advice of cases
• Case, advice & follow up published on website
• Now recorded and the audio published with a summary of the
case on the website

23. •

24. Challenges for the future
• How do we deal with blogs, tweets … other
academic activity
• Technology is only a diagnostic tool, not a
solution
• We need an informed debate and
acceptance of increased scrutiny

25. “Dear editors,
What is your estimate of overlap?
http://spore.vbi.vt.edu/xxxx
<http:/**/spore.vbi.vt.edu/dejavu/**yyy
Are all the patients new between the
studies?”
“Dear editors,
What is your evidence of overlap?
http://spore.vbi.vt.edu/xxxx
Why is the writing so similar? Why are the
titles differently formulated?”

26. This is the world that we live in….
http://retractionwatch.wordpress.
com/

27. Education is key