Ethics in publication, part 2: Duplicate publishing, salami slicing, and large retrospective multicenter case series

Medical journals and their editors have a responsibility to ensure that what is published is scientifically rigorous, novel, and relevant to the journal's audience. Fortunately, most manuscripts submitted to our journals follow the basic principles of publication ethics. In the rare cases of suspected ethical violations, we vigorously investigate such activity while following international guidelines by COPE and ICMJE to ensure that improper manuscripts are not published, proper disciplinary activity is followed when violations are proven, but, at the same time, authors are guaranteed that they will be treated with a respectful and fair process.