Revision as of 15:49, 10 August 2020

Themes

Salami publication

What is this about?

Salami publication (also known as "salami slicing") is characterized by the spreading of study results over more papers than necessary. This article will briefly try to present what the criteria for and effects of salami publication are.

Why is this important?

Salami publication is a concept that is difficult to define, therefore making detection and prevention difficult, but it is generally considered to be a form of redundant publication and self-plagiarism characterized by the spreading of study results over more papers than necessary despite the same, or very similar, hypothesis, methodology, dataset or results ^[1] ^[2]. The negative consequences of salami publication are multiple, and can be divided into two groups. The first is of a scientometric nature – scientists with more papers are likely to get more citations and probably more funding. The second, more serious, consequence is that results will be over-represented in meta-analyses, which are considered to be the highest level of evidence for any question ^[3] – salami publication skews the results of meta-analyses because the same data is unknowingly analyzed twice.

↑ Supak Smolcic V. Salami publication: definitions and examples. Biochem Medica. 2013;23(3):237-41.
↑ https://publicationethics.org/case/salami-publication
↑ Abraham P. Duplicate and salami publications. J Postgrad Med. 2000;46(2):67-9.

For whom is this important?

PhD StudentsResearchersJournal publishersJournal editorsJunior researchersSenior researchers

What are the best practices?

In Detail

The most blunt example of salami publication is publishing the same paper twice, with slightly different conclusions ^[1]. This type of salami publication was much more likely to occur in the age before online databases – nowadays, salami publication is much more subtle. For example, studies which investigate levels of biomarkers in different phases of a disease end up being followed up by a different paper investigating diagnostic characteristics of those very same markers on the same datasets.

The Embassy Editorial team, Iris Lechner, Natalie Evans, Rosie Hastings, Benjamin Benzon contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Mar 27, 2021

Other information

Virtues & Values

Honesty

Good Practices & Misconduct

Publication Ethics

↑ International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations. Overlapping Publications. Accessed 29 May 2019. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html

[1] Supak Smolcic V. Salami publication: definitions and examples. Biochem Medica. 2013;23(3):237-41.

[2] ttps://publicationethics.org/case/salami-publication

[3] Abraham P. Duplicate and salami publications. J Postgrad Med. 2000;46(2):67-9.

[4] International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations. Overlapping Publications. Accessed 29 May 2019. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html

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@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |Theme Type=Misconduct & Misbehaviors
 |Has Parent Theme=Theme:883697c8-d319-4224-991e-ce063d648efd
-|Title=Salami publishing
+|Title=Salami publication
-|Is About=Salami publishing is spreading study results over more papers than needed. This article will briefly try to present what salami publishing is and what the criteria for it are.
+|Is About=Salami publication (also known as "salami slicing") is characterized by the spreading of study results over more papers than necessary. This article will briefly try to present what the criteria for and effects of salami publication are.
-|Important Because=Salami publishing, or redundant publication, is a concept which is difficult to define. Which makes detecting and preventing it all the more difficult. Often, salami publishing is defined as publishing data from the same study in two or more articles. <ref>Supak Smolcic V. Salami publication: definitions and examples. Biochem Medica. 2013;23(3):237-41.</ref> However, this definition is often described as imprecise because studies on big databases are negatively affected by it. Another, perhaps more precise definition is that two or more published papers that address the same question on a same dataset are considered salami publishing. Negative consequences of salami publishing are multiple, but they can be divided in 2 groups. The first is of scientometric nature – scientists with more papers are likely to get more citations and probably more funding. The second, more serious, consequence is that results will be overly represented in metanalyses, which represent the highest level of evidence for any question <ref>Abraham P. Duplicate and salami publications. J Postgrad Med. 2000;46(2):67-9.</ref> Their results become skewed by unknowingly analyzing the same data twice.
+|Important Because=Salami publication is a concept that is difficult to define, therefore making detection and prevention difficult, but it is generally considered to be a form of redundant publication and self-plagiarism characterized by the spreading of study results over more papers than necessary despite the same, or very similar, hypothesis, methodology, dataset or results <ref>Supak Smolcic V. Salami publication: definitions and examples. Biochem Medica. 2013;23(3):237-41.</ref> <ref>https://publicationethics.org/case/salami-publication</ref>. The negative consequences of salami publication are multiple, and can be divided into two groups. The first is of a scientometric nature – scientists with more papers are likely to get more citations and probably more funding. The second, more serious, consequence is that results will be over-represented in meta-analyses, which are considered to be the highest level of evidence for any question <ref>Abraham P. Duplicate and salami publications. J Postgrad Med. 2000;46(2):67-9.</ref> – salami publication skews the results of meta-analyses because the same data is unknowingly analyzed twice.
 <references />
 |Important For=PhD Students; Researchers; Journal publishers; Journal editors; Junior researchers; Senior researchers
-|Has Best Practice=The bluntest example of salami publishing is publishing the same paper twice, with slightly different conclusions. <ref>International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations. Overlapping Publications. Accessed 29 May 2019. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html</ref> This was much more likely to occur in the age before online databases. At present, salami publications are much more subtle. For example, studies which investigate levels of biomarkers in different phases of a disease end up being followed up by a different paper investigating diagnostic characteristics of those very same markers on the same datasets.
+|Has Best Practice=<br />
 <references />
+|Has Detail=The most blunt example of salami publication is publishing the same paper twice, with slightly different conclusions <ref>International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations. Overlapping Publications. Accessed 29 May 2019. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html</ref>. This type of salami publication was much more likely to occur in the age before online databases – nowadays, salami publication is much more subtle. For example, studies which investigate levels of biomarkers in different phases of a disease end up being followed up by a different paper investigating diagnostic characteristics of those very same markers on the same datasets.
 }}
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