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Adve rtising, supple me nts
and the role of the
corre sponde nce column
International Committee of
Medical Journal Editors
ADVERTISING
Mo st medical jo urnals carry advertising, which generates inco me fo r their publishers, but advertis-ing must no t be allo wed to influence edito rial deci-sio ns. Edito rs must have full respo nsibility fo r adver-tising po licy. Readers sho uld be able to distinguish readily between advertising and edito rial material. The juxtapo sitio n o f edito rial and advertising material o n the same pro ducts o r subjects sho uld be avo ided, and advertising sho uld no t be so ld o n the co nditio n that it will appear in the same issue as a particular article. Jo urnals sho uld no t be do minated by advertis-ing, but edito rs sho uld be careful abo ut publishing advertisements fro m o nly o ne o r two advertisers as readers may perceive that the edito r has been influ-enced by these advertisers.
Jo urnals sho uld no t carry advertisements fo r pro ducts that have pro ved to be serio usly harmful to health— fo r example, to bacco . Edito rs sho uld ensure that existing standards fo r advertisements are enfo rced o r develo p their o wn standards. Finally, edito rs sho uld co nsider all criticisms o f advertisements fo r publica-tio n.
SUPPLEMENTS
Supplements are co llectio ns o f papers that deal with related issues o r to pics, are published as a sepa-rate issue o f the jo urnal o r as a seco nd part o f a regu-lar issue, and are usually funded by so urces o ther than the jo urnal’s publisher. Supplements can serve useful purpo ses: educatio n, exchange o f research info rma-tio n, ease o f access to fo cused co ntent, and impro ved co o peratio n between academic and co rpo rate entities. Because o f the funding so urces, the co ntent o f supple-ments can reflect biases in cho ice o f to pics and
viepo ints. Edito rs sho uld therefo re co nsider the fo llo w-ing principles.
1. The jo urnal edito r must take full respo nsibility fo r the po licies, practices, and co ntent o f supplements. The jo urnal edito r must appro ve the appo intment o f any edito r o f the supplement and retain the au-tho rity to reject papers.
2. The so urces o f funding fo r the research, meeting, and publicatio n sho uld be clearly stated and pro mi-nently lo cated in the supplement, preferably o n e ach page . Whe ne ve r po ssib le , funding sho uld co me fro m mo re than o ne spo nso r.
3. Advertising in supplements sho uld fo llo w the same po licies as tho se o f the rest o f the jo urnal.
4. Edito rs sho uld enable readers to distinguish readily between o rdinary edito rial pages and supplement pages.
5. Editing by the funding o rganizatio n sho uld no t be permitted.
6. Jo urnal edito rs and supplement edito rs sho uld no t accept perso nal favo rs o r excessive co mpensatio n fro m spo nso rs o f supplements.
7. Seco ndary publicatio n in supplements sho uld be clearly identified by the citatio n o f the o riginal pa-per. Redundant publicatio n sho uld be avo ided.
THE ROLE OF THE CORRESPONDENCE COLUMN
All bio medical jo urnals sho uld have a sectio n carrying co mments, questio ns, o r criticisms abo ut ar-ticles they have published and where the o riginal au-tho rs can respo nd. Usually, but no t necessarily, this may take the fo rm o f a co rrespo ndence co lumn. The lack o f such a sectio n denies readers the po ssibility o f respo nding to articles in the same jo urnal that pub-lished the o riginal wo rk.
N otes for A uthors
REVISTA PAULISTA DE MEDICIN A
Inquirie s and comme nts: sho uld be sent to the São Paulo Medical Jo urnal (Revista Paulista de Medicina) secretariat o ffice, Asso ciação Paulista de Medicina, Av. Brigadeiro Luiz Anto nio , 278, 7th flo o r. 01318-901 - E-mail: revistas@ apm.o rg.br
The no tes in this serie are excerpts fro m: Internatio nal Co mmittee o f Me d ic al Jo urnal Ed ito rs . Unifo rm Re q uire m e nts fo r Manus c rip ts Submitted toBio medical Jo urnals. Ann Intern Med 1997 Jan 1;126(1):36-47. Availab le o n we b site : http://www.acpo nline .o rg/jo urnals/annals/ 01jan97/unifreqr.htm This article includes: issues to co nsider befo re submitting a manuscript, requirements fo r submissio n o f manuscripts, sending the manuscript to the jo urnal, and a separate statements.
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N otes for A uthors
REVISTA PAULISTA DE MEDICIN A
Compe ting Manuscripts
Base d on the Same Study
International Committee of
Medical Journal Editors
Edito rs may receive manuscripts fro m different autho rs o ffering co mpeting interpretatio ns o f the same study. They have to decide whether to review co mpet-ing manuscripts submitted to them mo re o r less si-multaneo usly by different gro ups o r autho rs, o r they may be asked to co nsider o ne such manuscript while a co mpeting manuscript has been o r will be submit-ted to ano ther jo urnal. Setting aside the unreso lved questio n o f o wnership o f data, we discuss here what edito rs o ught to do when co nfro nted with the sub-missio n o f co mpeting manuscripts based o n the same study.
Two kinds o f multiple submissio ns are co nsid-ered: submissio ns by co wo rkers who disagree o n the analysis and interpretatio n o f their study, and submis-sio ns by co wo rkers who disagree o n what the facts are and which data sho uld be repo rted.
The fo llo wing general o bservatio ns may help edito rs and o thers dealing with this pro blem.
Differences in Analysis or Interpretation
Jo urnals wo uld no t no rmally wish to pub lish separate articles by co ntending members o f a research team who have differing analyses and interpretatio ns o f the data, and sub m issio n o f such m anuscripts sho uld be disco uraged. If co wo rkers canno t reso lve their differences in interpretatio n befo re submitting a m anuscript, the y sho uld co nside r sub m itting o ne manuscript co ntaining multiple interpretatio ns and calling their dispute to the attentio n o f the edito r so that reviewers can fo cus o n the pro blem. One o f the impo rtant functio ns o f peer review is to evaluate the autho rs’ analysis and interpretatio n and to suggest
appro priate changes to the co nclusio ns befo re publi-catio n. Alternatively, after the disputed versio n is pub-lished, edito rs may wish to co nsider a letter to the edito r o r a seco nd manuscript fro m the dissenting autho rs. Multiple submissio ns present edito rs with a dilemma. Publicatio n o f co ntending manuscripts to air autho rs’ disputes may waste jo urnal space and co nfuse readers. On the o ther hand, if edito rs kno w-ingly publish a manuscript written by o nly so me o f the co llabo rating team, they co uld be denying the rest o f the team their legitimate co autho rship rights.
Differences in Reported Methods or Results
Wo rke rs so m e tim e s d iffe r in the ir o p inio ns abo ut what was actually do ne o r o bserved and which data o ught to be repo rted. Peer review canno t be ex-pected to reso lve this pro blem. Edito rs sho uld decline further co nsideratio n o f such multiple submissio ns until the pro blem is settled. Furthermo re, if there are allegatio ns o f disho nesty o r fraud, edito rs sho uld in-fo rm the appro priate autho rities.
The cases describ ed ab o ve sho uld b e distiguished fro m instances in which independent, no n-co llabo rating autho rs submit separate manuscripts based o n different analyses o f data that are publicly available. In this circumstance, edito rial co nsideratio n o f multiple submissio ns may be justified, and there may even be a go o d reaso n fo r publishing mo re than o ne m anusc rip t b e c ause d iffe re nt analytic al ap -pro aches may be co mplementary and equally valid.
Inquirie s and comme nts: sho uld be sent to the São Paulo Medical Jo urnal (Revista Paulista de Medicina) secretariat o ffice, Asso ciação Paulista de Medicina, Av. Brigadeiro Luiz Anto nio , 278, 7th flo o r. 01318-901 - E-mail: revistas@ apm.o rg.br
The no tes in this serie are excerpts fro m: Internatio nal Co mmittee o f Me d ic al Jo urnal Ed ito rs . Unifo rm Re q uire m e nts fo r Manus c rip ts Submitted toBio medical Jo urnals. Ann Intern Med 1997 Jan 1;126(1):36-47. Availab le o n we b site : http://www.acpo nline .o rg/jo urnals/annals/ 01jan97/unifreqr.htm This article includes: issues to co nsider befo re submitting a manuscript, requirements fo r submissio n o f manuscripts, sending the manuscript to the jo urnal, and a separate statements.
