Misconduct

Read the full Taylor & Francis Editorial Policies.

Taylor & Francis takes all forms of misconduct seriously and will take all necessary action, in accordance with COPE guidelines, to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Examples of misconduct include (but are not limited to):

Plagiarism

Plagiarism applies to data, images, words or ideas taken from any materials in electronic or print formats without sufficient attribution. This can include abstracts, seminar presentations, laboratory reports, thesis or dissertation, research proposals, computer programs, online posts, grey literature and unpublished or published manuscripts.
The use of any such material either directly or indirectly should be properly acknowledged in all instances and the source of content must always be cited.

Taylor & Francis uses plagiarism detection software, and will deal with cases of plagiarism according to COPE guidelines.

Read our plagiarism policies and guidance for authors to find out what plagiarism is (and isn’t) and how you can avoid it.

Text-recycling/self-plagiarism

Although authors are expected to refer to their own previously published work, in some cases re-using large proportions is considered to be unacceptable. Where this is unavoidable authors must be transparent about their previously published work by providing appropriate citations. Authors must also ensure that re-use is compliant with copyright policies. Taylor & Francis will deal with cases of text-recycling according to COPE guidelines.

Read the full Taylor & Francis plagiarism policies.

Authorship

Authors are required to give an honest account of authorship, where each listed author meets the authorship criteria in order to provide transparency and credit to those who have substantially contributed to the work. However, where authors deliberately don’t comply this is considered to be a form of misconduct.

Of particular concern are:

• ‘Ghost authorship’ – where an author(s) has substantially contributed to the work but has not been given credit. This also impacts transparency as any competing interests pertaining to a ‘ghost author’ will not be declared.
• ‘Gift authorship’– where a listed author(s) has not contributed substantially, or at all to the published work.
• ‘Authorship for sale’– where authors have ‘sold’ an author spot on a paper, or where a researcher has ‘bought’ an authorship spot on a paper.

Please read our guide to defining authorship.

Affiliation misrepresentation

Affiliations must be an accurate reflection of where the study was approved and/or supported and/or conducted. For non-research articles, the affiliation should be listed as the place the author(s) was based at time of submission. Misrepresentation of affiliation is a form of misconduct, and Taylor & Francis will deal will such cases by contacting all relevant institutions to assist with our investigation.

Undisclosed competing interests

Where authors, editors or reviewers do not declare relevant competing interests, which can be perceived to influence their opinion of or assessment of a research or other type of scholarly article. Editors and reviewers should recuse themselves from any kind of involvement with submissions they have a significant competing interest against, the nature of which is likely influence their ability to provide a fair and balanced assessment.

Find out more about competing interests.

Image or data manipulation/fabrication

Where deliberate action has been taken to inappropriately manipulate or fabricate images or data. This is a serious form of misconduct as it is designed to mislead others and damages the integrity of the scholarly record with wide-reaching impact and long-term consequences.

Read our policies on images and figures.

Duplicate submission/publication

Authors are required to declare upon submission that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, and as such the detection of a duplicate submission or publication is typically considered to be a deliberate act.

Authors who wish to submit secondary publications (e.g. an article translated into English), must seek permission from the publisher and copyright holder of the original article, and must inform the Editor of the receiving journal about the history of the original article. This is in accordance with ICMJE guidance. Authors of secondary publications which have been translated into English must make it clear to readers that the article is a translated version, and must include a citation to the original article.

Peer review manipulation

Where authors or agencies submitting on behalf of authors take deliberate steps to influence the peer review process in their favor, or where editors make decisions based on biased peer review reports. Where there is evidence to suggest that the integrity of the peer review process has been compromised, necessary action will be taken to correct the scholarly record.

Citation manipulation

Where authors excessively and inappropriately self-cite, or enter into prearrangements among author groups to inappropriately cite each other’s work or where editors or reviewers coerce authors to cite papers from their own previously published papers, or from specific journals, without due justification as to why those papers are necessary to cite. Read the COPE guidance on citation manipulation.

Unethical research

Where research outside the approved ethics protocols has been conducted. For example, where necessary permissions have not been obtained, or where researchers have not taken sufficient steps to protect the safety and privacy of human subjects, or the inadequate welfare of animals used in the research, or where specimens (e.g. fossils, archaeological specimens, human tissues, etc) have not been ethically sourced.

Please read our research ethics guide.

“Ethics dumping”

Where researchers leading a study deliberately set up collaborations in regions where participant recruitment and process for ethical approval are designed with the intention of circumventing international standards of research ethics.

Breaches in copyright/use of third-party material without appropriate permissions

Where authors have included material, which is under copyright and have not obtained the appropriate permissions as instructed by the copyright holders. Read our guide to using third-party material in your article for more information on requesting permission to reproduce work(s) under copyright.

Return to the Taylor & Francis Editorial Policies.