This document summarizes initial research findings from a study conducted by COPE on ethical challenges faced by editors in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The study involved online focus groups and surveys of editors. Key findings include: 1) Editors reported difficulties with issues like plagiarism, bias in peer reviews, and data/image fabrication. 2) Editors were least confident in handling cases of data/image fabrication. 3) Emerging issues identified included maintaining inclusion as author diversity increases and addressing ethical questions around big data and AI. 4) Editors reported relying most on support from senior editors and boards, with COPE guidance being less commonly used. 5) The study's

1. Ethical challenges in the arts,
humanities and social sciences:
initial research findings and solutions
Conducted by COPE, supported by Routledge
Kath Burton, Associate Editorial Director
Arts & Humanities
Routledge, Taylor & Francis

2. Q. What issues are journal editors dealing with that are
problematic?
Q. What is it that journal editors need from COPE in
terms of support?
Q. What is COPE currently not providing?
2
To better understand the publication ethics needs of arts,
humanities and social science journal editors, and to identify
areas where they may need specific guidance and support.
Our Aim

3. Methodology
3
Online focus groups
• COPE publisher
members
• 10 respondents
• Two x 75 minute
sessions
• All from major
publishers
Online survey
• Academic editors
• 30 questions
• Mix of major
publishers and
smaller society and
university
publishers

4. Online survey respondents:
role profiles
4
83%
64%
56%
37%
77%
Editors working on a voluntary basis
Independent editorial decision makers
Editorial decision making in teams
COPE members
Associated with major publishers

5. Online survey respondents:
editorial experience
5
17%
31%
23%
18%
11%
0-2 years
3-5 years
6-10 years
11-20 years
21+ years

6. Online survey respondents:
geographies
6
37%
21%
17%
9%
4% 4% 4%
2% 2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
United
States
United
Kingdom
Rest of
Europe
Australia
and New
Zealand
Asia Canada Central
and South
America
Middle
East
Rest of
Africa

7. Online survey respondents:
subject areas
7
47%
46%
20%
20%
15%
13%
10%
5%
2%
Social Sciences
Humanities
Education
Multi/Inter-disciplinary
Business, Finance & Economics
Library & Information Science
Arts
Law
Other

8. KEY PROFESSIONAL
& ETHICAL ISSUES
8

9. Top 5 ethical issues reported
9
64%
58%
55%
54%
50%
Remaining inclusive while addressing
language
Detecting possible unattributed copying
Recognizing and responding to bias in reviews
Handling author responses to criticism
Self-plagiarism

10. What were the most serious &
difficult ethical issues facing editors?
• Detecting plagiarism and poor attribution
standards
• Fraudulent submissions
• Intellectual property and copyright issues
• Data and/or image fabrication issues
10
Journal editors felt least confident about
dealing with these issues

11. Data and/or image fabrication:
an area of under confidence
11
“Data fabrication can be a big concern since
the validation of reported results is often not
within practical means of the reviewers (as
they would have to have access to the raw
data and be willing to replicate the analyses
being reported)”
Business, Finance and Economics journal editor, US

12. What did editors see as
future ethical issues?
12
Inclusion and diversity
Editors must encourage a more diverse range of
voices, while maintaining quality
“Increased numbers of writers from non-
English speaking backgrounds whose language
issues seriously affect how we can work with
their material”
Social Sciences editor, Australia and NZ

13. What did editors see as
future ethical issues?
13
Using data
Data-related ethical issues will become more
prominent with big data and AI
“With the increased mainstreaming of ‘big data’
machine learning and AI … I could imagine
investigators using methods they do not
understand completely and inadvertently
publishing misleading or identifying
information”
Social Sciences editor, US

14. What did editors see as
future ethical issues?
14
Academic culture
An output-driven academic culture will continue
to cause more instances of ‘salami–slicing’ and
self-plagiarism
“Machine-authored manuscripts are beginning
to seem like a real possibility”
Humanities and Social Sciences editor, US

15. CURRENT SOURCES
OF SUPPORT
15

16. Which sources of support were
most important to editors?
16
Senior editorial colleagues/Editor-in-Chief
(70%)
Editorial boards (50%)
Contacts at publisher (43%)
Non-editorial colleagues (29%)
Professional bodies (24%) and societies (18%)
COPE (18%) or HEI ethics committees (17%)

17. Which policies were most frequently
used by editors?
17
Authorship
Post-
publication
corrections
and
retractions
Plagiarism
Open accessEthics
IP and
copyright

18. SUMMARY &
NEXT STEPS
18

19. Increasing inclusivity and diversity
requires editor support
Plagiarism and data integrity issues
are growing in HSS
19
What can we conclude from these
initial findings?
Editors draw on academic peer support networks
when handling ethical issues

20. Coming soon: white paper
20
editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com/
publishing-ethics-for-editors/
cope-white-paper
Register now to receive your copy