Ethics and rights

June 1, 2017 | Barry Fry, Head of Production Management

CrossMark identification has been added to all published work

Taylor & Francis is a participant in the CrossMark program – a multi-publisher initiative to provide a standard way for readers to locate the authenticated version of a piece of content. To show that we are committed to maintaining the content we publish, and that we adhere to funder requirements to alert readers to potential changes, we have added the CrossMark logo to the first page of all published articles.…

April 24, 2017 | Alejandra Leach-Núñez, Managing Editor

Ensuring you submit to a trusted journal: advice on checking a journal’s credentials

Increasingly, we in the academic and publishing community are contacted by, or discover, new journals which seem eerily familiar to extant, reputable journals. Such new journals often present striking similarities to an extant title, and its Aims & Scope, with the potential to confuse prospective authors and readers.…

April 3, 2017 | Victoria Farrimond Journals Development Coordinator

Join us for this year’s COPE European Seminar

Editors are invited to attend COPE’s European Seminar in London on Thursday 25th May 2017. This year’s event focuses on the changing face of research and publication ethics, looking at where COPE is today and the challenges it faces in the future.

February 10, 2016 | Elena Tranchant, External Peer Review Supervisor

Avoiding unethical authorship on your journal

What is authorship? What should a journal editor do when Taylor & Francis authorship guidelines are not met, and cases of authorship disputes or misconduct arise on their journal? Find out in this post.

February 8, 2016 | Sarah Robbie, Publishing Manager

Tips for handling a publishing ethics case

As an editor of a journal, it’s an unfortunate fact of life that at some point you will likely have to deal with a case of suspected ethical misconduct. These tips will help guide you through the process of handling such cases.

February 2, 2016 | Luke Peedell, Peer Review Coordinator

Ethical considerations when assigning independent reviewers

As a fundamental step of the peer review process, it is essential for editors to select appropriate reviewers for each manuscript. Ideally, chosen reviewers will be experts in their field and have significant area-specific knowledge on the manuscript’s topic, but why do editors also need to consider the ethics behind their choice of reviewer?

December 30, 2015 | Virginia Barbour, Committee of Publication Ethics Chair

COPE and publication ethics

Where have we come from and what’s next?

What’s next for the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE)? We spoke to Virginia Barbour, COPE Chair, to find out.

December 10, 2015 | Professor Jacqueline Stevenson Head of Research, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University

The importance of training in peer review

I have been peer-reviewing academic papers for journals for more than a decade. I pride myself on being a reliable and supportive reviewer: I take time to read and make notes on any paper I am reviewing and then write a review which will, I hope, be comprehensive enough to offer the author requisite advice.…

November 30, 2015 | Elaine Devine Communications Manager

Ethics in peer review – the reality for researchers

Ethical issues in peer review, whether gender bias, competitor delays, seniority bias, false identities, review ‘rings’, or a number of other issues, have gained much coverage in the media, on social media and on blog sites in the last twelve months. But are ethical issues in peer review as widespread as they seem? We asked researchers from across the sciences, social sciences, humanities and medicine, who had experience of publishing in a number of peer reviewed journals (with both Taylor & Francis and other publishers), to tell us about their perception of the prevalence of ethical issues in peer review.

November 27, 2015 | Rachael Lammey Product Manager, CrossRef

Getting to grips with Crossref Similarity Check

CrossCheck, designed to help publishers, journal editors and publishing staff actively engage in efforts to prevent plagiarism, was launched in 2008. Read on to find out more about the service and how it could benefit you and your journal.

November 16, 2015 | Leila Jones Publishing Manager

Submitting an article or managing the peer review process? Think. Check. Submit. to avoid publication fraud

As a researcher, how do you evaluate whether the journal you’re about to send your work to is a legitimate, trusted resource? As a journal editor, how can you reassure potential authors that your publication is a respected, reputable journal? The answer could lie in “Think. Check. Submit.”, a new initiative, launched by a coalition of publishers and industry organizations, which provides tools for researchers to make the process of choosing the right journal for their work clearer.

November 12, 2015 | Suzannah Downie Peer Review Coordinator

Data falsification and fabrication

How do you proceed when the integrity of the data in a paper has been questioned? Read on to find out more about data falsification and fabrication, including what to do if allegations are received.

November 3, 2015 | Tamara Bowler Peer Review Coordinator

Understanding conflicts of interest

As a journal editor, you probably will have come across several conflicts of interest; usually these are of minor concern and easily resolved if treated with the proper attention and transparency. However, occasionally they can get complicated and raise serious concerns. What are the true implications of a declared conflict of interest? And how does this affect the article or your journal? Find out in this post.

October 14, 2015 | Jonathan Patience Managing Editor

Shedding light on the Sunshine Act

Those of you involved in medical publications may be aware of the 2010 Physician Payments Sunshine Act, enacted to increase transparency of financial relationships between certain licensed U.S. healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. While undoubtedly important, it has caused some confusion among authors of medical publications, and sparked some controversy. Read on for an overview of the act, and to find out how it affects editors and authors.

October 13, 2015 | Lucy Francis Peer Review Coordinator

Plagiarism and dual submission

As a journal editor, you may have experienced cases where unattributed text overlap has been identified in a paper submitted to your journal, requiring you to take action. You may have been fortunate enough not to have experienced such a situation, but are concerned that, sooner or later, you will. So, what should you do if this does happen?

October 1, 2015 | Sarah Robbie, Peer Review Manager

Publishing ethics and the role of the editor

Publishing ethics and ethics misconduct are something that journal editors certainly hear a lot about, whether through direct experience in dealing with misconduct on their journals, or through reading about them more and more in the media. But why are ethics important? And what is the role of the editor in ethics? Find out in this post.

January 9, 2015 | Elaine Devine, Communications Manager (Author Relations), Richard Steele, Editorial Director & Vicky Gardner Open Access Publisher

Helping authors understand their rights and share their work

Introducing clearer information for authors

Are you confused by copyright? Finding yourself being asked about it by researchers submitting to your journal? Not sure how authors can share their published articles? Learn more about the guidance we offer authors on our Author Services website, and why we’ve made it simpler and clearer.

October 27, 2014 | Dmitri Khodjakov, Supervisor Electronic Editorial Systems US

Discussions from the CrossCheck Panel at the COPE North American Seminar 2014

Dmitri Khodjakov, Supervisor of the Taylor & Francis U.S. Peer Review Systems team, was invited to present at the COPE North America Seminar on August 13, 2014 as part of a panel on plagiarism-checking software. He reports on the discussion.

August 4, 2014 | Rebecca Bryson, Publishing Editor

COPE Asia-Pacific Seminar

Publication Ethics: From Student to Professional

COPE held its third Asia-Pacific Seminar in Melbourne on June 23, 2014 on the theme “Publication ethics from student to professional,” encompassing the issues faced at different research career points.

August 1, 2014 | Lynsey Haire, Head of Electronic Editorial Systems

Peer review “match-fixing” & author-suggested reviewers

If you regularly commission peer reviews from referees suggested by authors, then beware the unscrupulous academic who is “match-fixing” the review of their paper. Safeguard the integrity of your peer-review process with these quick and simple checks.

July 31, 2014 | Lynn Degele Editorial Systems Co-Ordinator

Verifying the reviewer’s credentials in the field

Some journals allow authors to suggest preferred reviewers at submission stage. As recent events in the industry have shown, it is essential to verify the authenticity of these reviewers before deciding whether to contact them to review. This article illustrates how you can check each person named in the Preferred Reviewers section of the ScholarOne Manuscripts submission form to reduce the likelihood of system gaming and unethical conduct.

April 22, 2014 | Sarah Robbie, Peer Review Manager, and Anna Walton, Peer Review Coordinator

2014 COPE European Seminar

Sarah Robbie and Anna Walton, from our Electronic Editorial Systems team, attended the 2014 COPE European Seminar in Brussels in March. This was the first time the European Seminar had been held outside London and was the biggest European Seminar to date, well attended by publishers, editors, and other industry partners.

January 24, 2014 | Rebecca Bryson, Publishing Editor

Australian COPE Forum 2013

Rebecca Bryson, Publishing Editor in our Melbourne office, attended the Australia COPE Forum in November 2013 where the acceptability of recycled review articles was discussed in addition to dealing with suspected breaches of proper reviewer behavior.

August 13, 2013 |

Copyright management and protection at Taylor & Francis

The management and protection of copyright is critical to our stewardship of journals for our Society partners. Authors are briefed on copyright policy at the point of submission, and are directed to our online resource. The transaction of Author Publishing Agreements is conducted via our online production management system - Central Article Tracking System.…

June 26, 2013 | Helen Talbot, Editorial Systems Coordinator

Publishing ethics

Taylor & Francis is committed to peer review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review in our journals. To help us maintain these high standards, we provide guidelines for ethical publishing for authors, reviewers, and journal editors.

June 26, 2013 |

Comments, Responses, and Rejoinders

Guidelines for dealing with “Letters to the editor”

From time to time journal editors may receive correspondence from a reader which offers critical comments on a published article. Such correspondence is traditionally known as “Letters to the editor.” In the age of blogs and online comments, such correspondence is commonplace, and we believe you will find these guidelines helpful in dealing with it.

June 26, 2013 |

Authorship guidelines

Given the increasing frequency of challenges to authorship, we believe it is essential to establish rules to govern authorship.