CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en" dir="ltr" xmlns:og="http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head profile="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/vocab">  <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-NDJJQK2');</script>  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, minimum-scale=1"> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <meta name="google-translate-customization" content="eb72a345cfbd8c11-875276fb43ddba8c-gcbdce10568327e2c-16"></meta> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/all/themes/custom/cope/favicon.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" /> <meta name="description" content="We are nearing the completion of an investigation into an alleged fraudulent special issue of one of our journals. Someone impersonated legitimate Special Issue editors and invited papers from legitim" /> <meta name="generator" content="Drupal 7 (https://www.drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://publicationethics.org/case/just-accpeted-articles" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://publicationethics.org/node/56554" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://publicationethics.org/case/just-accpeted-articles" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Retracting a 'just accepted' article" /> <meta property="og:description" content="We are nearing the completion of an investigation into an alleged fraudulent special issue of one of our journals. Someone impersonated legitimate Special Issue editors and invited papers from legitim" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://publicationethics.org/files/cope-logo-social.jpg" /> <meta property="og:image:alt" content="Logo for COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@C0PE" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@C0PE" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="We are nearing the completion of an investigation into an alleged fraudulent special issue of one of our journals. Someone impersonated legitimate Special Issue editors and invited papers from legitim" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Retracting a 'just accepted' article" /> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://publicationethics.org/files/cope-logo-twitter.jpg" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_GB" /> <meta name="twitter:image:alt" content="Logo for COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics" /> <title>Retracting a 'just accepted' article | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/css/css_u6TB3XWLPayXBzwlBUfV3OwtQW4YnXqI2uBEcqBydNs.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/css/css_nXpP-XqVZgUT4CA86UYYQ1HSBKQG0lot3yVXfiAxdYw.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/css/css_9G_2DZK1lQYBjbeYeFdl7oJ4EqTykomJVyu9814xwp0.css" media="all" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/js/js_XexEZhbTmj1BHeajKr2rPfyR8Y68f4rm0Nv3Vj5_dSI.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/js/js_RulCPHj8aUtatsXPqRSFtJIhBjBSAzFXZzADEVD4CHY.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/js/js_KhyQcv_ddNYEpQ8EGAH6nt8taAZZ7MCUm8EWsd3E2sA.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> <![CDATA[//><!]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/js/js_qCLMzFYCqvgsOQ4nweFBjTMl6I1KZZyRHq_vbj25m5A.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> <![CDATA[//><!]]> </script> </head> <body class="html not-front not-logged-in no-sidebars page-node page-node- page-node-56554 node-type-case" >  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-NDJJQK2" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <div id="skip-link"> <a href="#main-content" class="element-invisible element-focusable">Skip to main content</a> </div> <header role="banner" class="header"> <div class="header__row"> <a class="header__logo" href="/" title="Home" rel="home">COPE</a> <input class="header__toggle header__search-toggle" id="header__search-toggle" type="radio" name="header__toggle" /> <label class="header__toggle-btn header__search-toggle-btn" for="header__search-toggle">Show search</label> <input class="header__toggle header__menu-toggle" id="header__menu-toggle"type="radio" name="header__toggle" /> <label class="header__toggle-btn header__menu-toggle-btn" for="header__menu-toggle">Show menu</label> <input class="header__toggle header__close-toggle" id="header__close-toggle" type="radio" name="header__toggle" checked /> <label class="header__toggle-btn header__close-toggle-btn" for="header__close-toggle">Close</label> <div class="header__menu"> <ul class="menu"><li class="first expanded"><input type="radio" name="cope-menu-expander" id="cope-menu-expander"/><span class="nolink">Guidance</span><span class="description">Search through our collection of resources which make up all guidance issued by COPE.</span><label for="cope-menu-expander">Expand Guidance sub-menu</label><ul class="menu"><li class="first leaf"><a href="/guidance" title="">Find guidance</a></li> <li class="leaf"><a href="/guidance/Flowcharts" title="">Flowcharts</a></li> <li class="leaf"><a href="/guidance/Guidelines" title="">Guidelines</a></li> <li class="last leaf"><a href="/guidance/Case" title="">Cases</a></li> </ul></li> <li class="expanded"><input type="radio" name="cope-menu-expander" id="cope-menu-expander--2"/><span class="nolink">Member resources</span><span class="description">COPE offers a wide range of member-only benefits and services.</span><label for="cope-menu-expander--2">Expand Member resources sub-menu</label><ul class="menu"><li class="first leaf"><a href="/copeforum">COPE Forum</a></li> <li class="last leaf"><a href="/resources/elearning" title="">eLearning</a></li> </ul></li> <li class="last expanded"><input type="radio" name="cope-menu-expander" id="cope-menu-expander--3"/><span class="nolink">About COPE</span><span class="description">Become a member, find an existing member, or read more about COPE and what we do.</span><label for="cope-menu-expander--3">Expand About COPE sub-menu</label><ul class="menu"><li class="first collapsed"><a href="/about/our-organisation" title="">Our organisation</a></li> <li class="leaf"><a href="/core-practices" title="">Core Practices</a></li> <li class="leaf"><a href="/members" title="">Find a member</a></li> <li class="leaf"><a href="/join-cope">Become a member</a></li> <li class="last collapsed"><a href="/about/work-with-us">Work with us</a></li> </ul></li> </ul> </div> <ul class="header__user"> <li><a href="/user/login" class="icon-user">Sign in</a></li> </ul> <form class="header__search" action="/search" method="get"> <div class="header__search__inner"> <label class="header__search__label"for="header__search__input">Search our website</label> <input class="header__search__input" title="Enter the terms you wish to search for." placeholder="Search our website" type="text" id="header__search__input" name="t" value="" size="15" maxlength="128"> <input class="header__search__submit" type="submit" value="Search" class="form-submit"> </div> </form> </div> </header> <div class="hero hero--space-after"> <div class="hero__row"> <div class="hero__col"> <div class="hero__breadcrumb"> <h2 class="element-invisible">You are here</h2><p class="breadcrumb"><a href="/">Home</a> <a href="/resources">Resources</a> <a href="/cases">Cases</a></p> </div> <div class="hero__title"> <a id="main-content"></a> <h1 id="page-title">Retracting a 'just accepted' article</h1> </div> <div class="hero__bottom"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="page-main"> <div class="page-main__row"> <div class="page-main__col"> <main> <section id="content" class="region region-content"> <div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <div class="content"> <div class="node-case node node-case view-mode-full "> <div class="node-case__left node-case__fields"> <div class="field field--short"> <div class="field-label">Case number:</div> <div class="field-item">24-01</div> </div> </div> <div class="node-case__body"> <div class="sidebar sidebar--offset"> <div class="sidebar__body"> <div class="node-case__fields"> <div class="field field-name-field-anonymised-text-of-the-ca field-type-text-long field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Case text (Anonymised): </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>We are nearing the completion of an investigation into an alleged fraudulent special issue of one of our journals. Someone impersonated legitimate Special Issue editors and invited papers from legitimate authors in the community. We discovered this alleged fraud while reaching out to the people who were listed as the Special Issue editors only to find out from them that they had nothing to do with it. Several of the papers were already published at the time the fraud was discovered and are likely to be retracted, although this decision hasn’t yet been made by our Ethics Committee. Several of the other papers were posted in the publisher’s Digital Library as “Just Accepted” papers, which is a relatively new feature to make accepted, but not yet published versions available to the community. These Just Accepted papers have DOIs already assigned to them (the same DOI as the Version of Records will have), but we are trying to determine whether we can actually “retract” a Just Accepted version of a paper, since technically it hasn’t been “published” yet.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-advice field-type-text-long field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Advice: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the <a href="https://publicationethics.org/copeforum">COPE Forum</a> where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance.</em></p> <p>If the article is available in any form, then it should be retracted, regardless of whether it is the final Version of Record, or whether it has a DOI. According to the COPE <a href="https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines">Retraction Guidelines</a>:</p> <p>"Posting an 'in press' or final version of an article online usually constitutes publication even if the article has not appeared (or will not appear) in print. If an article is retracted before it appears in the print or online version of a journal, or if the journal does not publish in print, the online version of the article should be retained with a clear notice of retraction and it should be included in bibliographic databases (eg, with a digital object identifier (DOI) or other permanent citation). Retaining the original work ensures transparency of the published record, as online versions may have been accessed and cited by researchers prior to retraction."</p> <p>The retraction notice should be worded clearly to reflect the rationale for the retraction: that is, that it went through a compromised review process. It should make it explicit if the authors were not found to be involved (as seems to be the case here). The journal could also offer the option to the authors of resubmitting their manuscript for review to that journal so that they can ensure it goes through an appropriate process of peer review and decision-making. </p> <p>If the whole special issue has been affected, then the publisher should retract the whole issue. More guidance on handling ethical concerns with special issues can be found on the<a href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/discussion-documents/guest-edited-collections"> COPE website</a>.<br /> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-resolution field-type-list-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Resolution: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">On-going</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Year: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4478">2024</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--classifications field--short"><div class="field-label">Core practices:</div><div class="item-list"><ul><li class="first"><a href="/misconduct" title="View all "Allegations of misconduct" content">Allegations of misconduct</a></li> <li class="last"><a href="/peerreview" title="View all "Peer review processes" content">Peer review processes</a></li> </ul></div></div> </div> <aside class="sidebar__aside"> <div class="sidebar__aside__col"> <div class="sidebar__aside__inner"> <div class="contextual-links-region"><h3>COPE Forum</h3><div class="entity entity-bean bean-editable"> <div > <div class="field field-name-field-block-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>COPE Members:<br /> do you have a publication ethics case and need help with next steps?<br /> <a href="https://publicationethics.org/copeforum">Submit your case</a></p> <p>Registration is now open for the 9 December Forum where new cases are discussed. We will begin this Forum with a discussion on Expressions of concern.<br /> <a href="https://publicationethics.org/events/cope-forum-december-2024">Register for Forum</a></p> <p><em>The Forum is open to COPE Members only.</em></p> </div></div></div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </main> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer__outer"> <div class="footer__row"> <div class="footer__col"> <div class="footer__menu"> <h2>Useful links</h2> <ul class="links menu-site-map"><li class="menu-4141 first"><a href="/join-cope" title="">Become a member</a></li> <li class="menu-4140"><a href="/contact-us" title="">Contact Us</a></li> <li class="menu-4137"><a href="/events" title="">Events</a></li> <li class="menu-4139"><a href="/guidance" title="">Guidance</a></li> <li class="menu-4136"><a href="/members" title="">Membership</a></li> <li class="menu-4135 last"><a href="/newsopinion" title="">News & Opinion</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer__newsletter"> <section id="newsletter_footer_widget" class="region region-newsletter-footer-widget"> <div id="block-mailchimp-signup-newsletter-signup" class="block block-mailchimp-signup clearfix"> <h2 class="title">Sign up to COPE's latest news</h2> <div class="content"> <form class="mailchimp-signup-subscribe-form drupal-form" action="/case/just-accpeted-articles" method="post" id="mailchimp-signup-subscribe-block-newsletter-signup-form" accept-charset="UTF-8"><div><div class="mailchimp-signup-subscribe-form-description"></div><div id="mailchimp-newsletter-6eb8aec9d3-mergefields" class="mailchimp-newsletter-mergefields"><div class="form-item form-type-textfield form-item-mergevars-EMAIL"> <label class="element-invisible" for="edit-mergevars-email">Email Address <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input placeholder="Your email address" type="text" id="edit-mergevars-email" name="mergevars[EMAIL]" value="" size="25" maxlength="128" class="form-text required" /> </div> </div><input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" value="form-8TAfGjZVO3XOtybAB7VkYp5VI9bDAGhRsWpia-jLh6I" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" value="mailchimp_signup_subscribe_block_newsletter_signup_form" /> <div class="form-actions form-wrapper" id="edit-actions"><input type="submit" id="edit-submit" name="op" value="Sign up" class="form-submit" /></div></div></form> </div> </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="footer__social"> <h2>Connect with COPE</h2> <ul class="share"> <li class="facebook"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/publicationethics" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li> <li class="linkedin"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/committee-on-publication-ethics" target="_blank">Linkedin</a></li> <li class="youtube"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYHOebNuuQtd-YVgdt8VIw" target="_blank">YouTube</a></li> <li class="twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/C0PE" target="_blank">X</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="footer__row"> <div class="footer__col--full"> <div class="footer__menu footer__menu--divided"> <ul class="links menu-footer"><li class="menu-15926 first"><a href="/cope-newsletter" title="">COPE Newsletter</a></li> <li class="menu-1698"><a href="/about/governance">Governance</a></li> <li class="menu-1949"><a href="/about/press">Press</a></li> <li class="menu-1946"><a href="/cope-position-statements">COPE position statements</a></li> <li class="menu-9651"><a href="/about/subcommittees">Subcommittees</a></li> <li class="menu-24111"><a href="/cope-policies" title="COPE policies provide a clear and coherent set of policies and procedures to ensure that our organisation is well run, and that all who interact with COPE understand how we operate across all areas.">Policies</a></li> <li class="menu-1753"><a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a></li> <li class="menu-1755 last"><a href="/termsandconditions">Website Terms and Conditions</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="footer__copyright-container"> <div class="footer__copyright"> <p>Registered charity No 1123023, Registered in England and Wales, Company No 6389120, Registered office: COPE, New Kings Court, Tollgate, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 3LG, United Kingdom</p> <p>© Committee on Publication Ethics 2024</p> </div> </div> </div> </footer> <script type="text/javascript"> <![CDATA[//><!]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/js/js_Llgek5Zasqh0wiimoKH-uIdmSIEO0i9Cbi7UdXEdRgw.js"></script> </body> </html>