COPE is a charitable organization, first established in 2007 with the principal objective to “educate and advance knowledge in methods of safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record for the benefit of the public”.  We have adopted the following vision and mission statements in COPE’s 2023-2028 strategic plan:

VISION

        To move the culture of publishing towards one where ethical practices become the norm.

MISSION

To  provide expert guidance to uphold the integrity of the scholarly record by:

• Actively bringing together stakeholders to explore and provide solutions to the challenges arising in publication ethics.
• Providing support and education to empower stakeholders to uphold the integrity of the publication process and published record and take corrective action where necessary.
• Providing leadership and an unbiased expert voice in publication ethics.

We are seeking to engage with stakeholders in publication ethics who have been underrepresented in COPE’s membership.  We acknowledge that journals, publishers, universities and research institutes, and other organizations or individuals involved in publication ethics from the Global South are among those underrepresented.  While there are certainly publication ethics principles that are universal, we seek to understand how cultural norms and principles may inform practices and standards among those whose voices have not been heard as loudly. Also, information from a 2020 landscape survey we commissioned about research and publishing culture, current views of publication ethics, and support needs revealed that for Latin America (not just South America), common problems included salami publishing and small reviewer pools leading to long reviewer times.

There are approximately 14,000 members of COPE.  According to Latindex (accessed 26 May  2024), there are 13,919 scholarly journals published in South America.  However, in 2023, only 188 of these were COPE members, roughly 1.4%. We receive 16-19 applications per year from South America. In general, COPE membership applications are most frequently declined due to the lack of policies in the Journal information.

COPE is undertaking a review of our membership process to streamline the process and to increase the likelihood of a successful application.  This includes a proposal to include a pre-application self-audit of your journal to help editors check to see if their journal guidelines conform to current international trends and best practices. The actual membership form is being modified to make it more streamlined as well and to enhance the level of support we can give to applicants whose first language is not English.  Further information about COPE membership and the current application system can be found on the COPE website.

Some of COPE guidance documents have been translated into several languages, including Spanish.  This includes some of the flowcharts, which provide clear information how to handle common processes such as redundant publication, plagiarism,  fabricated data and others. As well, COPE’s Core practices, Principles of Transparency, COPE’s peer review guidance , and Retraction Guidelines are available in Spanish, and a Discussion document on Authorship. We are currently working on a translation of our Ethics Toolkit and a Short Guide to Ethical Editing.   These guidance documents and flowcharts are accessible without being a member.

In recent years, COPE has provided speakers for a number of events in South America. These have included:

• BITECA and Cross-Ref conference in Bogota, February 2024, and Ecuador, July 2024.
• An editors’ meeting for Paideia Studios in August 2023
• Ethics workshop for Concytec, Peru, December 2023
• International Meeting of Editors in Health Sciences, Bogota, Columbia, February 2020

COPE welcomes suggestions for speakers or workshops and we have a process for requests for speakers and workshops which may include in person or videoconferencing.  As COPE has a limited budget to pay for speakers to travel to other countries, it is ideal if the organizer pays for the speaker’s expenses.  Even so, if this is not possible, other arrangements may be possible. We actively welcome applications from qualified people from our priority areas for positions on Council and the Trustee Board. These are advertised in our monthly newsletter, COPE Digest and on our social media profiles. You can sign up for the newsletter and find out social media handles at the bottom of our web page.

Nancy Chescheir, COPE Trustee and Vice Chair.

Nancy Chescheir is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Reproductive, Female and Child Health and the Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She practiced high risk obstetrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until retirement in 2021. In addition, she served as department chair at Vanderbilt University and as chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, as well as superintendent of the Bokamoso Private Hospital in Botswana.