CLEAR CASE OF DUPLICATE PUBLICATION?
Case
Journal received an article. One of the referees discovered that a similar article had been published in a surgical journal 8 years ago. In that article, the authors presented data on the haemodynamics and intestinal blood flow in pigs.
In the submitted article, they presented the same results, but only the first three time points (which had been included in the first article). The data were exactly the same but the graphical presentation was different. The language was different; not copied from the first. The article also included three new authors.
The authors claim the second article is justified because they have some new, minor elements in the discussion. They were unable to admit and see that this is a clear case of double publication.
COPE advice
The data from the two papers are the same, the editor is well within his rights to reject the paper. The editor should warn the authors that this is not acceptable behaviour. Perhaps it should to suggested taking the matter further and contacting the authors’ institution, informing the Dean of the Faculty of the facts of the case. Regarding the question of the three new authors on the second paper and suggested that the author should be reminded of the criteria for authorship.
Follow up
The editor believed that this was a case of duplicate publication and he wrote to the dean of the faculty where the authors were working informing the dean about his concerns and requesting an investigation into the matter. The article was rejected. The Dean responded that he took this information very seriously and would follow-up.
The editor received a letter from one of the authors of the original publication. This author was furious with her colleagues. She obviously did not know that some of the original authors had attempted this double publication. From the journal’s point of view, the case is now closed.
