title: Flagrant Misconduct of Reviewers and Editor: A Case Study.
abstract: A case of a particularly severe misbehavior in a review process is described. Two reviewers simply copied and pasted their critical comments from their previous reviews without reading the reviewed manuscript. The editor readily accepted the reviewers' opinion and rejected the manuscript. These facts give rise to some general questions about possible factors affecting the ethical behavior of reviewers and editors, as well as possible countermeasures to prevent ethical violations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Silcherstr. 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany, boris.kotchoubey@uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kotchoubey
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bütof
authors.forename: Ranganatha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sitaram
mesh_terms: D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D017712:Peer Review, Research / Q000941:ethics*; D011643:Publishing / Q000941:ethics*; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000941:ethics*; D015871:Scientific Misconduct