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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