Salami publication
ThemesSalami publication
What is this about?
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.
- ↑ Committee on Publication Ethics. Cases. Salami Publication. Accessed 10 August 2020. Available at: 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?
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.
- ↑ 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
The Embassy Editorial team, Iris Lechner, Natalie Evans, Rosie Hastings, Benjamin Benzon contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Mar 27, 2021
