IGI Global's Full Membership to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
What is the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)?
The Committee on Publication Ethics, known also by its acronym, COPE, is a non-profit UK-based international organization that strives to provide leadership and promote adherence to strict ethical guidelines in the publishing and academic communities, as well as offers a professional voice in current debates. COPE continually shares educational resources with editors and publishers on the latest best practices for maintaining the highest standard of ethics in all publications.
In collaboration with such organizations as Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and World Association of Medical Editors, COPE remains an authority on compiling the criteria used to assess a journal’s (and its publisher’s) legitimacy.
COPE Membership Review Process
At the start of 2017, following an extensive application submission process, IGI Global entered into a rigorous year-long review by the COPE Council in which every aspect of IGI Global was
carefully examined, including our editorial management processes, our peer review process, our
ethics and malpractice policies, and our online manuscript submission system, eEditorial Discovery®. Employees and management of the company were directly contacted and interviewed and several IGI Global journal Editor(s)-in-Chief were
cross-examined in order to ensure that IGI Global was in fact executing sound ethical standards and the highest quality publishing processes. Also, IGI Global had to agree and comply with the
COPE core principles of publication ethics as laid out in COPE's "Core Practices". COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing was also used to evaluate our
publishing house and all our journals.
In 2017, IGI Global was formally recognized by COPE as a viable, ethical, and prestigious publisher of scholarly content. COPE also found IGI Global to be a reputable academic publisher that does not adhere to the practices of or fall under the definition of a predatory or vanity publisher.
In the fall of 2017, COPE notified IGI Global of its formal acceptance and ultimately validated IGI Global and all its published works as maintaining the highest ethical standards due to its robust and sound double-blind peer review process which executes several rounds of peer review and revisions to ensure the highest quality.
Upon acceptance, IGI Global was offered the opportunity to become a full member, which we gladly accepted as this also meant that all IGI Global published journals and all IGI Global journal Editor(s)-in-Chief also became full members of COPE.
In an era where there are thousands of predatory and vanity presses polluting academic research and knowledge, COPE’s membership list is of paramount importance for the scholarly community to be able to easily identify credible publishing houses and publications. It is an honor and a privilege for our publishing house and our editors to be a part of this list as an accepted full member of this prestigious organization.
Benefits for IGI Global Editors, Authors, and Reviewers
For Any IGI Global Editor, Author, and/or Reviewer
Any IGI Global Editor or Author has access to COPE's resources that will aid in their professional development and editorial leadership growth in academic research and publishing including:
- Flowcharts
- Core Practices
- Best Practice Guidelines
- Newsletter
- Cases Database
- Podcasts of Forum Discussions
- Retraction Guidelines
For IGI Global Journal Editor(s)-in-Chief
Any Editor-in-Chief of a scholarly journal published by IGI Global receives several exclusive COPE membership benefits including:
- Free COPE Membership (compared to the regular annual individual membership of approximately US $200).
- Ability to add that they are a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to their Curriculum Vitae.
- Free registration to COPE sponsored events such as workshops, seminars, and webinars.
- Receive advice on individual cases via the COPE Forum.
- Access the eLearning Modules for knowledge development.
- Use the ethical audit tool to see how well their journal matches COPE's guidelines.
- Use the COPE logo on their journal.
- Use sample letters to help draft their own when there is potential misconduct.
- Stand for election to COPE Council.
Articles About COPE
Upcoming COPE Events
IGI Global frequently attends COPE events and has greatly benefited from the various seminars and workshops that have supported its editorial management team on the best ethical practices in every aspect of academic publishing.
Please find below upcoming conferences, webinars, and other events hosted by COPE: