Yes, you can re-use images from the Internet and Chinese-language journals if you have obtained the necessary copyright permissions and you cite the original source (in the figure legend). Journals will not accept re-used images for which you have not obtained the necessary permissions. Check the copyright of the image If you want to re-use […]
If I find an error in a past publication, is it necessary to contact the journal?
Covering up a mistake is perceived as dramatically worse than the mistake itself. Discovering an error in a past publication can be a terrifying experience. However, if the mistake was genuinely unintentional, you should contact the journal to issue a correction/retraction. Doing so, and being as transparent as possible about the error, may even generate […]
Biomedical images – how much processing is too much?
Of almost 4000 retractions listed in the Retraction Watch database in 2021, over a quarter involved “concerns/issues about image” or “duplication of image.” Similarly, a recent study found that two-thirds of 120,000+ comments on PubPeer involve concerns about images. Inappropriate manipulations range from innocent errors to “beautification” to intentional falsification. It is unsurprising, then, that […]
Would a lottery system improve #TrustInPeerReview?
An increasing number of agencies are using lottery systems to distribute research funding. Supporters of the approach have even suggested lotteries could be used by journals to select which papers to publish [1]. In this blog, we discuss how this would potentially work, and look at the pros and cons of such a system. How […]
Is it misconduct to submit a translated version of a published paper to another journal?
The short answer … Yes – if you do not declare that it is a translated version of an already published paper. No – if you make it clear that it is a translated version, i.e., not original research. This blog English is the (current) universal language of science. The pressure on English-as-a-second-language (ESL) researchers […]
