Second International Conference on Publication Ethics organized by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (Shiraz - Iran December 4-5, 2014)

Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) in partnership with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) UK organized a two day Second International Congress on Publication Ethics at Shiraz from December 4-5th 2014. It was held in collaboration with Iranian Medical Journals Commission, Iranian Society of Medical Editors and National Committee for Ethics in Medical Research Dr. Behrooz Astaneh Chairperson of the organizing committee in his welcome address said that the number of scientific journals including medical journals has increased during the last five years and publication ethics has emerged as an important issue for the Medical Editors. We need to understand how scientific misconduct can be tackled. Iranian Ministry of Health is laying emphasis on quality of publications and research. Such conferences help educate the editors how to manage when they are faced with issues of scientific misconduct and publication ethics. Prof. Mohammad Hadi Imanieh, Chancellor of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in his speech said that SUMS has over ten thousand students and it was one of the leading universities in Iran. Realizing the importance of ethics, we have journals committee office with established ethics. We monitor the university journals with respect to publication ethics and standards. We provide training to the Editors and other staff. Such training programmes are essential for all editors in this region. These training programmes should be goal oriented and COPE role was extremely important in this regard. Since the number of journals in Iran is increasing our priority is their quality. Education of faculty as well as editors will help improve publication ethics, he added. Dr. Syed Bashir Hashemi Vice Chancellor of Research Affairs at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences hoped that the participants will learn from each other during the discussions. Dr. Reza Malekzadeh, Undersecretary for Research and Technology, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Government of Iran in his speech pointed out that the number of retraction of manuscripts on PubMed as well as in ISI Thompson/Reuter Web of Sciences is increasing every year and the main reason for retraction is scientific misconduct. In many instances even scientists have plagiarized for their PhD Thesis. Plagiarism has become a very serious issue, we need to think about it and take action. Conference Proceedings