Fraudulent submissions

Excerpt

Publication of articles in scientific journals fulfils a major role in the dissemination of knowledge. Editors, therefore, must be ever vigilant to ensure that the standard of their publication is maintained at the highest level. Authors who succeed in having their work published benefit from the kudos of their research both locally, by increasing their prospects of promotion, and internationally, by gaining recognition of their expertise worldwide. It follows that attempts to publish work that has been copied, published elsewhere, or worse, invented or stolen provoke stringent sanctions. When an article has to be retracted, notifications of the facts are published both on line and in the printed version of the journal. Furthermore, other journal editors are warned to be on the lookout for submissions from those authors and to block them. An organisation now exists specifically to look into and advise on these matters—The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)—to which most publishers subscribe. …