Duplicate publication

1. Helping you get published-
Dr.Anjali Upadhye

2. Introduction
Ethical research and publication practices are essential for honest
scholarly and scientific research. Most journals today are keenly
aware of this: they publish policies1-6 on these issues and expect
authors to “be aware of, and comply with, best practice in
publication ethics”5.
This article discusses two widespread and related publishing practices
that are considered unethical—duplicate publication and
simultaneous submission. It draws on definitive international
publication ethics guidelines.7-10

3. ▪ Duplicate (or redundant) publication is the publication of a
paper that is substantially similar to a published paper by the
same author, without acknowledging the source and without
obtaining the permission of the original copyright holder.7,11,12
▪ There may be superfluous differences between the original
and the second paper, such as a new title or a modified
abstract, but the data set and findings stay the same.13

4. Case study
Republication of a paper without permission
and/or acknowledgment is a serious breach of
publishing ethics, for the following reasons:.
1. It violates copyright as in most cases, the
copyright for the paper lies with the journal
and not with the authors; thus, the authors
are not free to republish the paper.11,12
2. It could distort empirical evidence because
researchers studying the subject may
erroneously count the same set of results
twice (because the results are presented in
two separate papers).7As empirical studies
form the basis for policies and other
medical/scientific decisions, this is a serious
problem.13
3. It amounts to “self-plagiarism,” because it
involves the use material from another work,
without attribution.14
An author has published an
article in a regional English-
language journal published by
his university. The author then
submits the paper for publication
to a journal based in the US.
Would this be considered a case
of duplicate publication?
Answer:?

5. 4.It leads to a waste of editorial and
review resources.7,13
5.It denies other authors the chance
to publish their work by unjustly
taking up limited/competitive
journal space.13
6.It is a “sign of poor scholarship”12
and may indicate that the “study
contributes only marginally to the
literature.”9

6. ▪ Ethical and editorial committees7-9, 15,16and academic journals 1-3,5,6,17
explicitly instruct authors not to submit papers or variations of papers on
studies that have already been published elsewhere.
▪ Several journals have stringent policies that require authors to send
copies of older, related articles along with the submitted paper2,3,12 if the
study findings and subjects overlap.
▪ Some journals are very specific and require that this be done when the
overlap is more than a certain percent.2
▪ Others permit only a few identical sentences; previously published
results or larger portions of text taken verbatim from the author’s older
publications, without acknowledgment, are not accepted.17

8. While these exceptions can be made, authors must adhere to the
following guidelines7,8 in these cases as well:
▪ Obtain permission from the copyright holders.
▪ Get approval from the editor of the journal in
which the paper was first published and the
editor of the journal in which it will be
republished.
▪ Acknowledge that the paper has been
republished in whole or is based on a
previously published paper and provide the
full citation for the primary publication.

9. Dos and don’ts for authors7,15
▪ Do not replicate content from any of your other published papers.
▪ Do not offer preliminary reports about unpublished papers to the media,
companies, or other agencies, without the permission of the journal.
▪ When quoting material from your previously published work, do not include
more than a few sentences from the older work. Also, place the text in
quotation marks and cite the source
▪ When using a single dataset to write more than one manuscript, ensure that
a. each manuscript addresses separate and important questions
b. the manuscripts are cross-referenced
c. you inform the journal editors about this matter in a cover letter
▪ If you have published related papers, provide details of these papers to the
journal editor at the time of submission. Include copies of these papers with the
submitted manuscript. This will ensure full transparency and will help the
editor make the right decision.

10. ▪ Simultaneous submission refers to the “practice of submitting the
same manuscript to two or more journals at the same time”1
without informing the journal editor that the manuscript has been
submitted elsewhere.
▪ It has also been termed multiple submissions or dual submission.
▪ While duplicate publication involves the submission of a
previously published manuscript to another journal,
simultaneous submission involves the submission of a
manuscript that is under consideration at another journal.

11. Although some researchers argue that this practice is not
dishonest and is merely a way to counter the long-drawn-
out journal publication
process,18 journals consider it to be “unethical publishing
behavior”1 for the following reasons:7,9
▪ A copyright violation or a copyright dispute could ensue, if
more than one journal decides to publish the paper.
▪ It leads to a waste of academic and scientific resources as two
(or more) journals would spend time and money on
carrying out the same production tasks.

12. However, in some exceptional cases, multiple submissions may be allowed,
provided the authors have notified editors of all the journals involved about the
concurrent submission. These exceptions are listed below:
▪ When the editors of the 2 (or more) journals agree to simultaneously or
jointly publish the paper, because doing so is in the best interest of society
at large.7,15
▪ When scholarly or scientific conferences explicitly authorize authors to
simultaneously submit papers to other meetings with overlapping
submission periods.19

13. Dos and don’ts for authors 3,9,15
▪ Do not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal.
▪ If you wish to submit a paper that is “under consideration” at one journal, to
another journal:
a. Get written consent from your co-authors.
b. Write to the first journal editor about this, asking that the paper be
withdrawn.
c. Get a formal notification from the first journal editor that has been
withdrawn from consideration.
d.Preserve this notification and present it to the second journal at the time
of submission.
▪ If you have written 2 related papers and wish to submit them to 2 different
journals:
a. Disclose the details of each paper to both journals.
b. Inform the editors that you have a similar paper under review at another

14. Conclusion:
Authors must be careful not to attempt duplicate publication and simultaneous
submission. Apart from the fact that these practices are serious violations of
copyright laws and that they can dent the integrity of scientific literature, they are
also viewed as “violations of authorial integrity”17 and can reflect poorly on an
author’s honesty and scholarly abilities. We recommend, therefore, that authors
study the resources listed in the reference list below and read through relevant case
studies20 so that they are able to understand and follow ethical submission practices.

15. References
1. Elsevier. Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication.[Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/intro.cws_home/ethical_guidelines.
2. BMJ Publishing Group. Scientific Misconduct. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/authors/editorial-policies/scientific-misconduct.
3. Nature Publishing Group. Guide to Publication Policies of the Nature Journals. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from:
http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/publication.html.
4. Sage Publications. Ethics and Responsibility. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://www.sagepub.com/journalgateway/ethics.htm.
5. PloS.org. PLoS Editorial and Publishing Policies.[Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://www.plosone.org/static/policies.action.
6. ACS Publications .Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research.[Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from:
http://pubs.acs.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1218054468605/ethics.pdf.
7. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals:
Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publications.[Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from: http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf.
8. The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals. Good Publication Practice for Communicating Company Sponsored
Medical Research: The GPP2 Guidelines.[Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from: http://gpp-guidelines.org/GPP2.pdf.

16. References
9. Council of Science Editors.CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications, 2009 Update.[Accessed:
Aug 10, 2011] Available from: www.councilscienceed- itors.org/files/public/entire_whitepaper.pdf.
10. Committee on Publication Ethics.Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011]
Available
from: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf.
11. Morse JM, 2007. Duplicate Publication. Qualitative Health Research, 17(10): 1307–1308.
12. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Plagiarism, Duplicate Publication, and Other Suspected Author, Editor, or Referee
Misconduct. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiary/Plagiarism_guidelines_Mar2011.pdf.
13. Roig M. Avoiding Plagiarism, Self-plagiarism, and Other Questionable Writing Practices: A Guide to Ethical Writing. [Accessed: Aug 10,
2011] Available from:http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/Redundant%20and%20Duplicate.html
14. Editorial, 2009:Combating Plagiarism. Nature Photonics, 3; 237. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from:
http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v3/n5/full/nphoton.2009.48.html.
15. World Association of Medical Editors. Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available from:
http://www.wame.org/resources/publication-ethics-policies-for- medical-journals.

17. 16. Committee on Publication Ethics. What to Do IfYou Suspect Redundant (Duplicate) Publication. [Accessed:Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/01B_Redundant_Published.pdfandhttp://publicationethi
cs.org/files/u2/01A_Redundant_Submitted.pdf.
17. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.Authorial Integrity in Scientific Publication. [Accessed:Aug 10, 2011]
Available from: http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiarism.php.
18. Torgerson DJ, Adamson J, Cockayne S, Dumville Jo, Petherick E, 2005. Submission to Multiple Journals:A Method of Reducing Time
to Publication? British Medical Journal, 330(7486):305–307.
19. Association for Computing Machinery. Policy on Prior Publication and Simultaneous Submissions. [Accessed:Aug 10, 2011]
Available
• from: http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/sim_submissions/.
20. Elsevier. DecisionTrees: Multiple, Duplicate, Concurrent Publication/Simultaneous Submission. [Accessed: Aug 10, 2011] Available
from:http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/editorshome.editors/3_Multiple_publication.