Scientific Publications: Retracted Publications and Related Topics

Are there standards, either written or unwritten, of ethical conduct of all three actors in the publishing game - authors, reviewers, and editors?

"In the USA at least, the word ”standards” has a specific legal definition. So professional organizations for editors have often shied away from formulating ”standards”; instead, a number of associations and groups have issued policy statements, guidelines, and recommendations for the major parties concerned with scientific publication - authors, reviewers, and editors."
Archive of Oncology: Founded 1993: Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Serbia: volume 14: no.2, p.70 Interview

The COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors is designed to provide a set of minimum standards to which all COPE members are expected to adhere. The Best Practice Guidelines are more aspirational and were developed in response to requests from editors for guidance about a wide range of increasingly complex ethical issues. While COPE expects all members to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (and will consider complaints against members who have not followed it), we realise that editors may not be able to implement all the Best Practice recommendations (which are therefore voluntary), but we hope that our suggestions will identify aspects of journal policy and practice that should be reviewed and discussed.

Ethical dilemmas in scientific publication: pitfalls and solutions for editors: Editors of scientific journals need to be conversant with the mechanisms by which scientific misconduct is amplified by publication practices. ... Editors also can be admonished by their peers for failure to investigate suspected misconduct, failure to retract when indicated, and failure to abide voluntarily by the six main sources of relevant international guidelines on research, its reporting and editorial practice.

'Scientific misconduct and breach of publishing ethics can take different shapes and forms, and can be committed knowingly or unknowingly. ' -Elsevier Ethics Toolkit

Dos and Don’ts for Authors and Reviewers

Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research

Instructions to authors: Ethical Guidelines

Journal policy on ethics in scientific publication

BELIT - Bioethics Literature Database: BELIT is an integrated bibliographic database developed by the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE, Bonn, Germany)

Editors as gatekeepers of responsible science: Special issue: Quality in laboratory diagnostics: Responsible writing in science

Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: a Publisher's Perspective

Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism

Journal policies: Journal of Experimental Biology

CSE is a dynamic community of editorial professionals dedicated to the responsible and effective communication of science. Editor Roles and Responsibilities: CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications, 2012 Update

Permission seeking guidelines for Elsevier authors: 'Fair Use'

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher and the society of society-owned or sponsored journals.

Publishing Ethics: Links from ElsevierConnect

Inter-connected European information and documentation system for ethics and science: European Ethics Documentation Centre:
It is the overall aim of ETHICSWEB to stimulate an enhanced democratic debate on ethical issues of science and to promote a more engaged and informed public.

The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) is an internationally oriented community of individuals from diverse backgrounds, linguistic traditions and professional experience who share an interest in science communication and editing.

European Research Ethics (ERE), the premier link to research ethics resources is a website created within the ETHICSWEB projects. Basically it is a translation of the Swedish CODEX website with special regard to European issues of research ethics.

Unreliable Research: are librarians liable?

Interview with Faith McLellan: In the USA at least, the word ”standards” has a specific legal definition. So professional organizations for editors have often shied away from formulating ”standards”; instead, a number of associations and groups have issued policy statements, guidelines, and recommendations for the major parties concerned with scientific publication - authors, reviewers, and editors.

Experts: Publish 'Invisible' and 'Abandoned' Clinical Trials

Research Integrity: NIH is fully committed to maintaining public trust in the NIH research enterprise by supporting our grantees in adhering to the highest standards of research integrity. Research integrity includes: the use of honest and verifiable methods in proposing, performing, and evaluating research reporting research results with particular attention to adherence to rules, regulations, guidelines, and following commonly accepted professional codes or norms

A central resource for users to find easily Nature journals' policies on publishing policies relating to ethics: authorship, plagiarism, fabrication, duplicate publication, competing financial interests, confidentiality and pre-publicity

Managing allegations of scientific misconduct

Ethical Issues in Writing and Publishing

Ethical guidelines for Reproduction; Author code of ethics

Publishing ethics and other policies

The Responsible Researcher: Paths and Pitfalls

Publishing Ethics for Journals: A guide for Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Managing Editors:

Nobel winner declares boycott of top science journals: Randy Schekman says his lab will no longer send papers to Nature, Cell and Science as they distort scientific process

International Journal of Clinical Practice: Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: a Publisher's Perspective
These Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics describe Blackwell Publishing's position on the major ethical principles of academic publishing and review factors that may foster ethical behavior or create problems.