Guide tells editors how to root out plagiarism and fraud

Editors from some of the leading international biomedical and scientific journals—including the editor of the BMJ—have joined forces to produce a guide to rooting out poor and unethical practice in science publishing.

The Committee on Publication Ethics has published a practical, step by step guide for journal editors, with 14 flow charts that give straightforward advice on what to do when facing certain publishing dilemmas.

The flow charts include advice on what editors should do if they suspect plagiarism, fabricated information, or redundant or previously published data. They also cover how to deal with requests for changes in authorship, suspected undisclosed interests, and ethical issues.

“There is nothing else like these flow charts,” said Elizabeth Wager, author of the flow charts and a publications consultant. “Current ethical guidelines for scientific and biomedical editors tend to be expressed in abstract terms. We have translated the theory into something really practical.”

The flow charts are designed to help journal editors deal with allegations of the most common breaches of publication ethics that occur in scientific and biomedical journals before and after publication. They are based on hundreds of cases that the committee has advised on since its foundation in 1997.

The BMJ's editor, Fiona Godlee, a former chairwoman of the committee, said, “It made sense to simplify the process by developing the flow charts.”

She said, “The flow charts are based on tried and tested methods and firmly grounded in good practice. We have a consensus about how to approach these issues and have gathered sufficient expertise over the past decade to know how to handle them.”

The committee was set up to provide a sounding board for editors struggling with possible breaches of research and publication ethics.

“Many editors are part time and often end up battling with research misconduct by themselves or deciding not to act on their suspicions, because it is simply too difficult,” said the committee's current chairman, Harvey Marcovitch, syndication editor for the BMJ publishing group.

He said, “Editors have a key part to play in picking up misconduct early and preventing that from happening. They need to keep blowing the whistle, and this resource will make that job easier.”