Introduction to Medical Publication Ethics
When using human or animal subjects/data in your research, there are several ethical frameworks that must be followed before, during, and after the conduct of your research in order to publish your work in our journals, which are outlined below. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, and that individual journals may have further requirements which will be outlined in their submission guidelines. Additionally, your supporting institution is likely to have additional resources about research ethics, and more specific ethical requirements.
Before You Submit
The Declaration of Helsinki is an ethical guideline for medical trials, first drawn up in 1964 but constantly amended. Many Ubiquity and Ubiquity Press medical journals state that the declaration needs to be followed by submitting authors. Of relevance to publication, it broadly states that researchers must work to protect ‘the life, health, dignity, integrity, right to self-determination, privacy, and confidentiality of personal information of research subjects’. It has further protocols such as that clinical trials must be registered in accessible databases before recruitment, and that research involving vulnerable communities is only justified if the research is responsive to their particular health needs. It also states that authors, editors, and publishers have ethical obligations to make the results of research publicly available, and that guidelines for ethical reporting must be adhered to.
CONSORT: Where relevant, some journals require that authors follow the guidance of the CONSORT Statement (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) if they are reporting on randomised clinical trials. This is a checklist and flowchart that helps authors to standardise their reporting of trial findings in a transparent way.
PRISMA: Where relevant, some journals require that authors follow the guidance of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analyses) Statement https://www.prisma-statement.org/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 if they are reporting on systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Much like CONSORT, it is a checklist and flowchart that helps authors to standardise their reporting of findings in a transparent way.
After You Submit
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (IJMCE) is a committee that works to provide guidelines for the undertaking and publication of medical research. In particular, their recommendations document in detail the best practice for the conduct and reporting of medical research. It provides guidance for publishers as well as researchers, for example on peer review and other publication ethics issues, such as conflicts of interest. This guidance is used by many of our medical journals to e.g. explicitly define authorship. While COPE remains Ubiquity’s main source of publication ethics guidance, when issues relate to medical journals, we may also consult IJMCE recommendations.
COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics) was originally established by medical journal editors, although it has since expanded its scope to all disciplines. It is Ubiquity’s main source of publication ethics guidance for any ethical issues that are raised after submission to one of our journals.
For Journal Editors
In order to adhere to ethical standards of publishing, you should check that the journal you edit has a stated ethics and consent policy on the submission guidelines. This should outline which standards, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, you expect them to adhere to.
Where relevant, you must ensure that authors have included relevant ethics statements or permissions within their submissions. Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors must include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymised whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian) and added to this statement. If a study involving human subjects/tissue/data was exempt from requiring ethical approval, a confirmation statement from the relevant body should be included within the submission.
If you suspect there has been ethical misconduct which would break the terms of the relevant standard, you should inform your publisher who will be able to work with you to determine the next steps. Additionally, you should check the website of the relevant standard to see if they have any protocols for this scenario.