Good publication practice guideline 3: Evolving standards for medical writers.

Abstract

Publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as oral and poster presentations for scientific conferences comes under the purview of GPP3 guideline. The GPP3 has kept pace with the changes in publication practices and focusses on every burning aspect of publications. The present paper evaluates the purview of GPP3 guideline in context with the evolving role of medical writer (MW) in the present times. A MW plays an important role to in producing high quality authentic documents. The role of professional MW have previously been emphasised upon in previous versions of GPP guidelines, and have been instrumental in acknowledging role of MWs in medical publications and cementing their existence rather than them being termed as ‘ghostwriters’. Additionally the paper focuses on evolving publication and research presentation standards with reference to other guidelines. The paper also focusses on clarity on reimbursements which is in contrast to other Acts (Sunshine Act). Most importantly, the expectations from subsequent guidelines are also discussed which may form basis of subsequent GPP guidelines.