Editorial

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1999-02-19

Editorial

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR JOURNAL PUBLISHERS

Publishers who are Committee on Publication Ethics members and who support COPE membership for journal editors should:

Follow this code, and encourage the editors they work with to follow the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Edi- tors (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/New_Code.pdf)
Ensure the editors and journals they work with are aware of what their membership of COPE provides and en- tails
Provide reasonable practical support to editors so that they can follow the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/New_Code.pdf_)

Publishers should:

Define the relationship between publisher, editor and other parties in a contract
Respect privacy (for example, for research participants, for authors, for peer reviewers)
Protect intellectual property and copyright
Foster editorial independence

Publishers should work with journal editors to:

Set journal policies appropriately and aim to meet those policies, particularly with respect to:

– Editorial independence

– Research ethics, including confidentiality, consent, and the special requirements for human and animal research

– Authorship

– Transparency and integrity (for example, conflicts of interest, research funding, reporting standards

– Peer review and the role of the editorial team beyond that of the journal editor

– Appeals and complaints

Communicate journal policies (for example, to authors, readers, peer reviewers)
Review journal policies periodically, particularly with respect to new recommendations from the COPE
Code of Conduct for Editors and the COPE Best Practice Guidelines
Maintain the integrity of the academic record
Assist the parties (for example, institutions, grant funders, governing bodies) responsible for the investigation of suspected research and publication misconduct and, where possible, facilitate in the resolution of these cases
Publish corrections, clarifications, and retractions
Publish content on a timely basis