As the chief editor of JAMP, I have been confronted with duplicate articles or those with a high level of overlap in the last few years. This is an unethical approach to publishing manuscripts and is not in the same line with Cope principles.

The term “Duplicate Publication” refers to publishing an article with the same data or substantial parts of a published manuscript more than once without providing the appropriate references. In most cases, duplicate publications are done intentionally and consciously by the authors; Since they are fully aware of the unethical nature of submitting the article to two or more journals, and know the copyright principles of those journals. They even complete the copyright form when submitting the manuscript to the journals, and often refuse to cite it in their new article due to the fear of discovering their other article ( 1 , 2 ). This editorial is written by the editors of JAMP journal after discovering the publication of an article accepted in this journal in another journal. It is aimed to inform the authors of the rules for duplicate publication and avoid encountering similar cases in this journal.

As you know, it is pointed out in the instruction to authors of JAMP that the manuscript submitted by the authors should be exclusively sent to one journal, and they are asked to fill out the copyright form when submitting their article; all the authors have to sign the mentioned form and not to submit it to another journal until they hear from the editors of JAMP. Ideally, only one article can be published from a set of data, and in the case of the publication of another article, the previous one should be cited ( 3 ). Then, the editors account for determining the level of overlap and deciding whether to accept or reject it based on the contribution of the article to the literature. As to the rejected articles by the journal, the authors can immediately submit their manuscript to another journal. Moreover, publishing the abstract or short communication (under 400 words) from a research project at scientific conferences (if the complete data are not yet published and there is no overlap) does not pose any limitation for publishing the article by the authors. However, it would be better to avoid publishing the abstract or short report of the project in conferences until the full article is published, and if the article is published, refer to the previous abstract or short report ( 4 , 5 ).

When the journal editors find out the manuscript is a duplicate one, it is discussed in the editors’ meeting, and the article is rejected. First, the authors are asked to explain about the reason for duplicate publication; usually two cases occur: 1) no response is received from the author, and 2) some responses like “not reading the instruction to authors and lack of awareness from the regulations”, “access to a different group of addressees,” and “little overlap between the parts of the articles.”

In case the author does not provide us with any response, the journal corresponds with the ethics committee of the university and reports the ethical violation committed by the authors. Thus, the author will go into the Black List of JAMP. If the author provides us with a response, depending on the conditions, he/she will be provided with an opportunity for publication of his/her future article, while considering the ethical issues and journal instruction to authors. Also, correspondence will be made with the journal in which the duplicate article has been published for information about the case, and if both articles are published, the second one will be retracted.

In addition to being troublesome for the editorial board, reviewers, editors, etc., duplicate publication of the articles will impose a high cost on the journal, and if continued, it will impact the reputation of the journal. Therefore, it seems that the journals should take measures to enhance the authors’ awareness about such cases while considering the novelty of the data presented by the authors.

Authors’ Contribution

P.N, N.Sh, J.K contributed to the conception and design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work. All Authors contributed in drafting and revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Conflict of Interest

None declared.

References

1. Tobin MJ. AJRCCM’s Policy on Duplicate Publication. AM j Respir Crit Care Med. 2002; 166:433-7.
2. Peh WCG, Arokiasamy JT. Duplicate Publication: a joint statement from the Singapore Medical Journal and the Medical Journal of Malaysia. Singapore Med j. 2007; 48(12):1067.
3. Huth EJ. Ethical issues in biomedical publication. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore; 2000.
4. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals [Internet]. 2007 [Updated October 2007, Accessed on November 23, 2007]. Available from: www.icjme.org.
5. World Association of Medical Editors. WAME publication ethics policies of medical journals [Internet]. 2007 [Accessed on November 23, 2007]. Available from: www.wame.org/resources.