Ethics Training Program: Building Research Integrity

Medical Journal IMJ Health - Research Ethics Education

ISSN: 2395-6291 | COPE Member | Free Online Training Resources

"Journal editors need diverse skills – the WAME e-Learning Program provides a one-stop resource for obtaining these. Research integrity is increasingly facing such threats as predatory journals, paper mills, and AI-generated content. Medical journal editors need to have the knowledge and tools to evaluate research content and implement best practices."

IMJH is committed to advancing publication ethics through comprehensive training. As a COPE member, we provide free access to world-class ethics education resources for our authors, reviewers, editors, and the broader research community.

6. Data Integrity & Reproducibility
7. Identifying Predatory Journals
8. AI in Scholarly Publishing (2025)
9. NIH Responsible Conduct of Research
10. Certification & Continuing Education

1. WAME eLearning Program: Free Global Ethics Training

Now Available: Free for Everyone

The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) has launched a comprehensive eLearning Program for medical journal editors, available to anyone involved in scholarly publishing. IMJH strongly endorses this program. [citation:1]

Program Features

100% Free: No cost to any user worldwide
Self-Paced: Complete sections at your convenience
Pre- and Post-Tests: Assess knowledge gain
Case Scenarios: Apply ethics principles to real situations
Certificates: Awarded upon successful completion
LMIC Focus: Additional content for low- and middle-income countries

Curriculum Sections

The Medical Journal Editor: Editor roles, independence, staying current
Journal Operations: Editorial boards, tracking systems, mentoring
Manuscript Processing: Peer review, decisions, initial evaluation
Ethics: Conflicts, authorship, human/animal subjects, misconduct
Publishing: Print/electronic, media relations, indexing, translations
Business & Legal: Copyright, metrics, revenue models, CC licenses

Access the WAME eLearning Program

Anyone is eligible to sign up and take any and all sections, entirely for free. WAME members who successfully complete the program are eligible for a Certificate of Commendation. [citation:1]

Citation: World Association of Medical Editors. WAME eLearning Program (eLP). 2025.

Access WAME eLP

2. COPE Ethics Toolkit for Editorial Offices

Comprehensive Guide to Ethical Publishing Practices

The COPE Ethics Toolkit explains expected ethical practices and helps editorial offices develop codes of ethical conduct aligned with COPE's principles. [citation:2]

Toolkit Applications

Guidelines for Authors: Develop clear authorship and submission policies
Guidelines for Reviewers: Define expectations for ethical peer review
Misconduct Handling: Processes to identify and address ethical concerns
Complaint Procedures: Clear rules for confidentiality breaches, COI, retractions
COPE Membership Application: Identify areas needing development [citation:2]

COPE Member Tools

COPE eLearning: Practical guidance on plagiarism, falsification, authorship, conflicts of interest, and reviewer misconduct [citation:5]
Journal Audit: Checklist to ensure robust, publicly documented processes [citation:5]
Template Letters: Draft correspondence for potential misconduct cases [citation:5]
Flowcharts & Infographics: Step-by-step ethical decision-making tools [citation:5]
COPE Forum: Submit anonymized cases for advice from Council members [citation:5]

COPE Focus Topics: Emerging Ethical Dilemmas

Managing Conflicts of Interest

Pre-publication and post-publication stages [citation:2]

Geopolitical Events

Response to events affecting scholarly research [citation:2]

Emerging AI Dilemmas

Accountability, tools, and guidance for 2025 [citation:2]

Access COPE Toolkit COPE Member Tools

3. Responsible Authorship: ICMJE Criteria and Ethical Practices

Authorship Requires Substantial Contribution

Responsible authorship means giving proper credit to each contributor and understanding the accountability that comes with authorship. [citation:4]

ICMJE Authorship Criteria

All FOUR criteria must be met:

Substantial contributions to conception OR design OR data acquisition/analysis/interpretation
Drafting or revising critically for important intellectual content
Final approval of the version to be published
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work [citation:4]

Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged, not listed as authors.

Ethical Issues to Avoid

Redundant/Duplicate Publications: Presenting same research in multiple journals
Self-Plagiarism: Reusing substantial text without citation
Predatory Journals: Publishing in deceptive or low-quality venues [citation:4]
Gift Authorship: Including individuals who did not contribute
Ghost Authorship: Omitting legitimate contributors

Author Responsibilities Declaration

Based on the Declaration on Ethics and Good Publication Practice, authors submitting to IMJH certify that: [citation:8]

Manuscript is original, unpublished, and not plagiarized
Prior work on same topic is appropriately cited
Same research not presented in previously published works
Authorship limited to significant contributors

Accurate account of work with objective discussion
Sufficient detail for reproducibility
Duty to report errors and cooperate with corrections

4. Ethical Peer Review: Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewer Responsibilities

Timeliness: Decline promptly if unqualified or unavailable
Confidentiality: Treat manuscripts as confidential; do not discuss with others without permission [citation:8]
Objectivity: Conduct reviews objectively; avoid personal criticism
Citation Verification: Identify relevant uncited works
Similarity Reporting: Alert editor to substantial overlap with other articles [citation:8]
Conflict Disclosure: Recuse if conflicts exist

Reviewer Misconduct

COPE eLearning provides practical guidance on identifying and addressing reviewer misconduct, including: [citation:5]

Using privileged information for personal gain
Delaying review to disadvantage competitors
Suggesting citations to inflate own metrics
Breaching confidentiality
Unprofessional or biased comments

IMJH Reviewer Ethics Pledge

All IMJH reviewers agree to: "conduct reviews in an objective manner, maintain confidentiality, identify relevant published works not cited, report substantial similarity to other articles, and decline manuscripts with conflicts of interest." [citation:8]

5. Conflicts of Interest: Identification and Management

Conflicts of Interest Are Highly Relevant to Credibility

COPE's December 2025 Forum focuses on managing conflicts of interest in both pre-publication and post-publication stages. [citation:2][citation:5]

Financial COIs

Employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, patents, grants

Personal COIs

Family relationships, friendships, rivalries, academic competition

Institutional COIs

Departmental affiliations, institutional endorsements, funding sources

COPE Conflict of Interest Resources

COPE Discussion Forum: December 5, 2025 session on COI management [citation:5]
COPE eLearning: Module on conflicts of interest [citation:5]
Template Letters: Correspondence templates for undisclosed COIs [citation:5]

Flowcharts: Step-by-step COI investigation guides [citation:5]
ICMJE Form: Standard disclosure form for biomedical journals

6. Data Integrity, Management, and Reproducibility

NIH Responsible Conduct of Research

NIH requires a minimum of 8 hours RCR training, covering: [citation:3]

Research Integrity: Online module (1 hour)
Research Ethics Workshop: Full-day (6 hours) covering scientific integrity, publication, authorship, peer review, mentor-trainee relationships, data acquisition and management
Annual Review of Ethics Cases: Institute-facilitated case discussions (1 hour annually)

SOAS Research Integrity Programme

Core modules (mandatory): [citation:9]

Responsible/irresponsible research practice
Planning your research
Managing and recording your research
Data selection, analysis and presentation
Scholarly publication
Professional responsibilities

IMJH Data Integrity Standards

Accurate Data Representation: Underlying data must be accurately represented in manuscripts
Data Availability: Link to databases or repositories encouraged
Sufficient Detail: Enough information for others to reproduce work
Fraudulent Data: Knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior [citation:8]

Data Reproducibility Training: The NIH offers Reproducibility Training as an elective module. SOAS includes "Data selection, analysis and presentation" as a core research integrity module. [citation:3][citation:9]

7. Identifying Predatory Journals and Paper Mills

A Growing Threat to Research Integrity

Paper mills are a real threat to the integrity of the scholarly record. COPE Focus brings together guidance, discussions, and videos on this topic. [citation:5]

Red Flags: Predatory Journals

Rapid publication promises (24-48 hours)
Unsolicited email invitations to submit
Fake or non-existent impact factors
Editorial boards with uncontactable members
Hidden article processing charges
False claims of indexing [citation:4][citation:7]

How to Verify Journal Credibility

Check Indexing: Verify in PubMed Central, Scopus, Web of Science
COPE Membership: Verify on publicationethics.org
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals
Think.Check.Submit: Campaign for journal verification
Publisher Website: Review for transparency and professional standards [citation:7]

COPE Focus on Paper Mills

COPE Focus brings together COPE's most important resources on paper mills, providing up-to-date, carefully chosen collections of guidance, discussions, and videos. [citation:5]

8. Artificial Intelligence: Emerging Ethical Dilemmas (2025)

Emerging AI Dilemmas in Scholarly Publishing

COPE's 2025 discussions address key accountability measures, emerging tools, and guidance to ensure ethical standards in an environment increasingly shaped by AI. [citation:2]

Key Questions for 2025

Can AI tools be listed as authors? (No - cannot take responsibility)
How should AI use be disclosed?
What constitutes appropriate vs. inappropriate AI assistance?
How to detect undisclosed AI-generated content?
What are the accountability measures for AI use? [citation:2]

IMJH AI Policy

No AI Authors: AI tools cannot be listed as authors
Disclosure Required: Authors must disclose AI use in manuscript preparation
Human Responsibility: Authors are fully responsible for all content
Plagiarism: AI-generated text may constitute plagiarism if not attributed

See our complete AI in Publishing Policy

COPE Discussion: Emerging AI Dilemmas

COPE's discussion forum addresses key accountability measures, emerging tools, and guidance to ensure ethical standards in an environment increasingly shaped by AI in 2025. Last reply: 15 Sep 2025. [citation:2]

9. NIH Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training

NIH Requirement: 8 Hours RCR Training

NIH requires a minimum of eight hours RCR training completed within the first year of fellowship. [citation:3]

Training Component	Credit Hours	Topics Covered	Timeline
RCR Online Module	1 hour	Research integrity, authorship, mentor/trainee relationships	Within 3 weeks of arrival
Annual Ethics Cases Review	1 hour	Institute-facilitated review of current ethics cases	Annually (Sept/Oct)
Research Ethics Workshop	6 hours	Scientific integrity, publication, authorship, peer review, mentor-trainee, data management	Within first year
Research Mentor Training	3 hours (elective)	Expectations, communication, research ethics, mentoring philosophy	Annually (May-June)

RCR Training Resources

NIH RCR Website: policies.niehs.nih.gov/rcr
CITI Program: RCR courses for biomedical researchers
Epigeum Research Integrity: University subscription-based training [citation:9]

SOAS Research Integrity: 8 core modules + 6 supplementary modules [citation:9]
Warwick Research Integrity: Full and concise versions available [citation:6]
Refresher Training: Knowledge check, policy updates, emerging issues [citation:9]

10. Certification and Continuing Ethics Education

WAME Certificate

Awarded upon completion of WAME eLearning Program. WAME members eligible for Certificate of Commendation. [citation:1]

Research Integrity Certificate

SOAS/Epigeum: Downloadable certificate upon completing all core modules. Individual certificates also available per module. [citation:9]

Refresher Training

Research Integrity: Refresher - shorter programme with three modules: knowledge check, UK policy updates, current and emerging issues. [citation:9]

IMJH Ethics Training Recognition

IMJH recognizes the following training programs for continuing education in publication ethics:

WAME eLearning Program: Free, comprehensive, certificate-awarding
COPE eLearning: Practical guidance, case-based
NIH RCR: 8-hour requirement, certificate available

Epigeum Research Integrity: University subscriptions
CITI Program: RCR and human subjects protection
IMJH Author Ethics Tutorial: Coming 2026

Authors, reviewers, and editors may include completion certificates in their professional portfolios. IMJH encourages all stakeholders to complete at least one comprehensive ethics training program annually.

IMJH Author Ethics Tutorial Series

Coming in 2026: IMJH Ethics Education Initiative

IMJH is developing a series of short video tutorials on key publication ethics topics, freely available to our author community.

Authorship

ICMJE criteria, contributor roles, avoiding gift authorship

Coming Q1 2026

Plagiarism

Self-plagiarism, paraphrasing, similarity reports