The text below outlines the ERS journals’ and books’ approach to publication ethics. It should be read in conjunction with individual publications’ instructions for authors.
The ERS journals and books are published by the European Respiratory Society (https://www.ersnet.org), a not-for-profit professional society with a mission to promote lung health in order to alleviate suffering from disease and to drive standards for respiratory medicine globally.
ERS aims to behave honestly, ethically and respectfully in all its activities, and it expects the same from authors, editors and peer reviewers.
ERS has been a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; https://www.publicationethics.org) since 2009. We draw on its published guidance, and that of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; http://www.icmje.org/), in maintaining ethical publishing standards. ERS also has a society-wide Ethics and Integrity Committee (https://www.ersnet.org/the-society/leadership-and-committees/ethics-and-integrity-committee/), which is empowered to address ethical and misconduct-related issues across the society.
Article content
The text in this section is a complement to that presented in the instructions for authors, and is not a substitute for the instructions.
Duplicate and overlapping publication
The exact rules regarding duplicate and overlapping publication vary between article or chapter type. Authors should consult the instructions for authors.
Authors submitting an article or chapter do so on the understanding that the work has not been (nor will be) published or submitted to another publication. This restriction does not apply to conference abstracts, articles deposited on non-peer-reviewed recognised community preprint servers such as medRxiv and bioRxiv, or material published under legal requirements for clinical trials reporting, but includes work published in another language. Preprint publication should be declared at the time of submission.
Plagiarism and “self plagiarism”
Plagiarism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as: “The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own”. It can cover such activities as copying sections of text, reproducing figures or tables, or re-publishing someone else’s data. The act of “passing them off as one’s own” constitutes misconduct.
“Self plagiarism”, or the reuse of one’s own work in a new article or chapter, does not constitute misconduct in this sense. However, presenting reused work as “new” is considered unethical, and may contravene the book or journal’s rules. Such reuse may also breach the licensing rules of the original publisher.
It is understood that some degree of text similarity (particularly in Methods sections) is inevitable, and that reproducing figures, tables and quotations from text in review articles and book chapters is often useful. However, all content reproduced from elsewhere must be clearly indicated and referenced.
The ERS uses Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) software (https://www.crossref.org/documentation/similarity-check/). Submitted articles are screened and compared to previously published sources. Manuscripts revealing a high proportion of similarity to single or multiple published sources will be examined carefully, and the Chief Editors reserve the right to approach authors for an explanation (as per the COPE recommendations of procedures to follow in the event of suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript).
Image manipulation
Excessive or deceitful manipulation of photographic images, scans and micrographs constitutes misconduct. Examples of such misconduct include: splicing gel bands without clear indication; “cleaning up” the background of an image; applying different contrast adjustments to different parts of an image without clear indication; reusing control bands across multiple images.
Any manipulation or processing of an image should be clearly indicated and explained to the reader.
Authors are expected to be able to provide original unmodified images if requested by the editors, even after publication.
A useful resource regarding legitimate and illegitimate types of image manipulation is provided by the Council of Science Editors: https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/3-4-digital-images-and-misconduct/
Fabrication of data
Fabrication of data, and deceitful modification of real data, constitute misconduct.
Human and animal studies
When reporting studies on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the study procedures were approved, or were declared exempt from review, by the responsible national or institutional review committee. If no formal ethics committee was available, a statement indicating that the research was conducted according to the principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/) should be included. Written informed consent must also have been obtained from all subjects and this must be clearly indicated.
Animal experimentation must have been performed according to the Declaration of Helsinki conventions for the use and care of animals.
Clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry prior to enrolment of the first participant: https://www.ersjournals.com/authors/research-ms-preparation#CLINICAL_TRIALS.
For information regarding patient consent to publish when an article contains identifying information, please consult the instructions for authors.
Authorship
Authorship policies vary across the ERS journals and books owing to the nature of their content, but in general they are guided by the ICMJE criteria (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html). Please see the instructions for authors.
The following principles should be applied:
- All people who qualify as an author should be named on the author list (no “ghost” authorship).
- People who do not qualify as an author should not be named on the list (no “gift” or “guest” authorship).
People who do not meet the criteria for authorship but whose contribution to the work was significant should be named in the Acknowledgements section.
ERS forbids submission of articles prepared by “paper mills”, which sell authorship on fabricated papers (see https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00733-5).
Conflict of Interest
Authors must declare any conflict of interest (such as research funding, honoraria, shareholding or personal relationships) that may, in the mind of the editor or reader, be or appear to be relevant to the work submitted. Peer reviewers and handling editors are expected to recuse themselves from reviewing or handling a manuscript if they have a conflict of interest.
Tobacco and alternative nicotine delivery systems
The ERS publications and their editors are guided by the ERS conflicts of interests policy, and will not consider for publication contributions from authors who are or who have been, full or part-time employees of, or paid consultants to, or those with any real or perceived, direct or indirect links, to the tobacco industry, or who have received any financial or in-kind benefit from the tobacco industry, at any time after 1 January 2000. Contributions from authors who have conflicts of interest relating to alternative nicotine delivery products such as e-cigarette and heated tobacco products, at any time after 1 January 2020, will not be considered. If it is discovered during peer review that competing interests were not declared at submission, or when an article is commissioned, this will result in immediate rejection of the paper. If a competing interest comes to light after publication, the article will be retracted or corrected, as appropriate. ERS will not accept the removal of a disqualified author’s name from a manuscript to resolve conflict of interest problems, as this constitutes “ghost authorship”.
Dealing with allegations of misconduct
To raise an ethical concern about an ERS publishing procedure (in general or in relation to an article or chapter), or about the content of an article, please contact journals@ersnet.org. Your message will be passed to the Director of Publications for investigation. Our investigation will be guided by the principles outlined above and handled with as much confidentially as is compatible with a thorough investigation. If you wish or need to remain anonymous (for example if your allegation relates to a colleague or someone in a position of power relative to you), please state this in your message, and if necessary use an anonymous email account.
If an allegation of misconduct is proven, ERS may take action up to and including writing to authors’ employers and retracting the article(s) or chapter(s) concerned.
Corrections and retractions
The general ERS publications correction policy is outlined at https://www.ersjournals.com/authors/research-ms-preparation#CORRECTIONS.
Where an allegation of misconduct relating to an article is proven or strongly suspected, it is likely that the article will be retracted or be made subject to a published expression of concern. ERS may choose to give the authors prior sight of the retraction notice or expression of concern. However, the content and timing of such notices is entirely at the discretion of ERS.
This page was updated on 21 June 2021