COPE provide a flowchart for editors to audit a journal's publication ethics. The whole system is complicated.

Here, I only list some of them and the more detailed information can be found at  http://publicationethics.org/about/guide.

1. A journal should have guides to the authors about the publication ethics.

2. A journal should let the authors know whether the publication ethics guidances have been opened (or available) to the authors.

3. The journal should have measures to monitor the behavior on the violation of the publication ethics: data fabrication; data falsification; plagiarism; redundant publication; manipulated images;

4. The journal should have ethical practices guides to editors and reviewers.