Publication ethics: a collective responsibility

Abstract

advice on the steps to take in the case of some general ethical questions (e.g. redundant publication, plagiarism). COPE’s initial emphasis was on authors’ and peer reviewers’ transgressions, but in 2004 they introduced a Code Publishing is becoming increasingly important for the development of the field of health promotion. In large part, the definition of a field can be found in what it publishes (1). A key task is to ensure that publications meet the highest international ethical standards. To contribute to Promotion & Education’s best practice in this regard, the journal, with support from SAGE Publications, recently joined the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). COPE is a registered charity of editors that aims to find practical ways to prevent breaches of research publications ethics (2). Since 1997, COPE works with editors of peer-reviewed journals to encourage discussion of ethical issues in publishing and action to ensure that ethical standards are adhered to. To assist editors, editorial board members, authors, readers and publishers in their consideration of publishing ethics, in 1999 COPE published a set of advisory Guidelines on Good Publication Practice. The over 3,500 COPE members are mainly biomedical and related journals, as well as science and academic. Nonetheless, the ethical issues faced by these types of journals are relevant to a wide range of disciplines, especially with regards to raising awareness about potential misconduct and finding solutions that do not discredit editors, authors, journals or reviewers. In the past decade, COPE has put together a vast list of searchable resources on a wide range of issues including duplicate publication in submitted or published articles, ghost authorship, conference presentations, data fabrication, reviewer competing interest, and publication without consent. In addition to cases and suggested solutions, COPE also provides flowcharts that offer