Table 1. Characteristics of the journals included in the study.
| Characteristics | Number of journals n = 399 (%) |
| Editorial office site | |
| ○USA | 220 (55.1) |
| ○Europe | 132 (33.1) |
| ○Europe and USA | 23 (5.8) |
| ○Canada | 10 (2.5) |
| ○Other countries | 14 (3.5) |
| Type of contents | |
| ○Clinical | 123 (30.8) |
| ○Basic | 162 (40.6) |
| ○Clinical and basic | 114 (28.6) |
| Publisher | |
| ○Elsevier | 90 (22.6) |
| ○Wiley-Blackwell | 59 (14.8) |
| ○Springer | 29 (7.3) |
| ○Nature | 28 (7.0) |
| ○Lippincott WW | 23 (5.8) |
| ○Oxford Journals | 21 (5.3) |
| ○Mary Ann Liebert | 7 (1.8) |
| ○Other | 142 (35.6) |
| Endorsement of policy-producing body guidelines | |
| ○ICMJE | 159 (39.8) |
| ○COPE | 157 (39.3) |
| ○WAME | 44 (11.0) |
| ○ORI | 32 (8.0) |
| ○CSE | 6 (1.5) |
| ○Other bodies * | 21 (5.3) |
| Source of misconduct policies | |
| ○Journal | 132 (33.1) |
| ○Publisher | 143 (35.8) |
| ○Editors’ associations/ORI/professional societies | 124 (31.1) |
| Misconduct policies | |
| ○Mention of misconduct | 279 (69.9) |
| ○Definition of misconduct | 140 (35.1) |
| ○Falsification | 113 (28.3) |
| ○Fabrication | 104 (26.1) |
| ○Plagiarism | 224 (56.1) |
| ○Duplication | 242 (60.7) |
| ○Image manipulation | 69 (17.3) |
| ○Other forms of misconduct † | 154 (38.6) |
| Plagiarism-checking service | 112 (28.1) |
| Procedures for responding to | 179 (44.9) |
| ○Retraction | 123 (30.8) |
| ○Expression of concern | 65 (16.3) |
| ○Other procedures ‡ | 130 (32.6) |
*
Mainly professional societies such as British Cardiovascular Society, American Diabetes Association and The Endocrine Society.
†
Examples include, among others, ‘suppression of undesirable results’, ‘multiple publication’ and ‘misinterpretation of results’.
‡
Examples include, among others, ‘publish complete errata’, ‘letter of explanation’ and ‘letter of reprimand’.