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Ethics toolkit
for a
successful
editorial office
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.24318/AkFpEBd1
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process, editorial offices should define and
implement best practices in publication
Accept
ethics. This Read is
COPE guide more
a
comprehensive toolkit that explains
expected ethical practices in scholarly
publishing, and highlights resources for
editorial offices to develop their codes of
ethical conduct and practice.

You can also use this toolkit to

prepare your application for COPE
membership by identifying areas in need
of development within your policies and
processes to align with COPE's Core
Practices and the Principles of
Transparency and Best Practice in
Scholarly Publishing.

Document

Ethics toolkit PDF 3 MB

Key points
Journals should have robust and well
described practices for all the areas
within the COPE Core Practices.

Journals should be transparent about

their processes and business
practices according to the Principles
of Transparency and Best Practice
in Scholarly Publishing. COPE
expects journals to apply these
principles in publishing practice.
Clear and transparent policies should
be in place describing requirements
for authorship and contributorship.

Peer review processes, including

what is peer reviewed, what model of
peer review is used and how the
process is managed must be
transparent.

Journals must have processes in

place to respond to allegations of
research, publication, and review
misconduct whether before or after
publication.

Journals should clearly describe

definitions of what, and how,
conflicts of interest must be
disclosed by authors, reviewers,
editors, journals and publishers.

Requirements for data availability,

use of reporting guidelines, and
registration of clinical trials and other
study designs should be clear in
journal guidelines.

Journals must publish clear

guidelines on the ethical conduct of
research, according to the research
discipline.

Copyright and publishing licences

must be clearly described, as well as
any author or reader fees.
 Transparency of journal management
is required including the business
model, policies, processes, and
software for the efficient running of
the journal.

Journals must describe how they

manage post-publication debate and
perform corrections and retractions.

The journal and publisher must have

guidelines in place to handle
complaints against the journal, its
staff, editorial board or the publisher.

Related resources
COPE Core Practices

Principles of Transparency and

Best Practice in Scholarly
Publishing

General approach to publication

ethics for the editorial office,
flowchart

Apply for COPE membership

Membership application frequently

asked questions

Core practices:
Allegations of misconduct
Authorship and contributorship
 Complaints and appeals

Data and reproducibility

Ethical oversight
Intellectual property
Journal management
Peer review processes

Post-publication discussions and

corrections

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