Ask me anything
Champion sponsor of the Annual Meeting
Reported by Devorah Weinstock
Speakers
- Caroline Halford, Chief Publishing Officer, PLOS
- Alan Moore, Digital Publishing Manager, Adis | Springer Healthcare Ltd
- Shawn Morton, Senior Editorial Director, Health Sciences, Wiley
- Niamh O’Connor, Chief Publishing Officer, PLOS
This session with journal editors was packed with rich and relevant content. Questions asked of the editors spanned a wide range of topics including open access, predatory publishing, digital publications, and the effect of COVID-19 on medical publications.
A question on ethical considerations in medical publications brought out a thought-provoking discussion. Caroline Halford mentioned that GPP3, ICJME, and COPE have fantastic guidelines for authors to follow. These guidelines help authors adhere to the highest ethical standards in the publication process.
Some common pitfalls for authors were discussed. For example, all clinical data should be published where possible.
Additionally, authors should not get discouraged if a high impact journal rejects their manuscript, rather they should remain realistic and submit to lower impact journals, which will gladly publish their article.
Another potential pitfall is the misconception that all trials need ethical approval from an institutional review board. This level of ethical approval only applies to clinical trials involving human subjects. Market access studies or surveys on wearable devices are not of this nature, and therefore do not require the same level of ethical approval.
The session ended with many questions for the panelists and a great deal of sound advice for future manuscript submissions!
