Misconduct and Sanctions
Suspected breaches of Clinical Trials and Practice (CTP)'s publication ethics policies — before or after publication — as well as concerns about research ethics, should be reported to the journal. Claimants may remain anonymous if requested. Institutions, grant funders, or governing bodies wishing to investigate suspected research or publication misconduct may contact the editorial office directly.
Upon receiving information about suspected misconduct, the editors will initiate a thorough investigation. Authors may be asked to provide underlying data, trial documentation, or other supporting materials. The journal may consult with editors and contact relevant institutions, sponsors, or regulatory bodies to request an investigation.
If an article is found to violate the journal's ethical publishing guidelines — including duplicate submission, fraudulent data, plagiarism, citation manipulation, false claims of authorship, or failure to register a clinical trial as required — the article will be rejected.
If the article has already been accepted and is at an "Online First" or pre-publication stage, the journal will remove it and post an appropriate notice of withdrawal. Failure by authors to respond to journal communication following review and provisional acceptance will also be treated as withdrawal. If the article has already been published, it will be retracted immediately, following COPE's Retraction Guidelines.
The journal follows COPE flowcharts for handling misconduct.
Depending on the severity of the misconduct, the journal may also:
- Suspend submission privileges for 1–3 years
- Prohibit the individual from acting as an editor or reviewer for the journal
- Report the misconduct to the author's institution, employer, trial sponsor, and funding agencies
Minor, unintentional errors by authors may be corrected via a corrigendum; errors attributable to the publisher will be corrected via an erratum.
