International Advisory Board

To expand COPE internationally, we need to ensure a broad, international focus. This means gaining an understanding of the ethical issues and concerns facing individual countries and regions (as far as practicably possible). COPE has therefore agreed to establish, on a twelve month trial basis, an international advisory board, where a local point of contact will be appointed to advise and assist COPE in its work to support editors and publishers of peer-reviewed journals in all aspects of publication ethics.

Each member of the international advisory board will act as a contact point for their country/region and will advise COPE council in dealing with ethical concerns arising in their country/region, in particular ensuring COPE is aware of any cultural differences in dealing with those concerns. Each board member will also act as an ambassador for COPE for the country/region, promoting COPE's activities as well as identifying opportunities for COPE to work more closely on ethical issues in that country/region.

International advisory board members will liaise with a dedicated COPE council member and, for specific cases, should be available by phone to provide a verbal report at the COPE Forum meetings, or provide a written report where this is not practical. Advisory board members should also be willing to work on COPE project groups as appropriate (these can include: providing advice for official COPE documents, eg the Code of Conduct, discussion documents; assisting with web projects; eLearning etc).

All board members must be members of COPE and must speak English. All applications will be reviewed by the International Advisory Board sub-committee and members will be appointed by COPE Council. Note: COPE will not provide financial assistance for board members to attend COPE meetings. Board members are welcome to attend meetings at their own, or their employer's expense; but communication will normally be via email or telephone conference.

To apply please submit a short CV (no more than 4 pages) plus a covering letter stating how you can contribute to the International Advisory Board. Further information can be obtained from the Operations Manager, Natalie Ridgeway, to whom applications can be emailed.  Contact via the website here.