Avoiding ethics pitfalls in publishing: a perspective from COPE

Abstract

The mission of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is to promote integrity in research publication. COPE was started in 1997 with a small group of editors and now has a membership of more than 10 000. Throughout its history, COPE has provided a forum for discussion about ethical issues related to all aspects of scholarly publishing and developed resources to assist those who write, review, and edit scholarly work. This concise review provides examples of ethical issues related to authoring, reviewing, and editing scholarly manuscripts from the perspective of COPE.