Good publication practice

Abstract

This issue of Family Practice contains a special article summarizing the 1999 report of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) on guidelines on good publication practice. COPE has asked a number of other journals to publish these guidelines so that a uniform consensus on publication practice develops in the medical literature. The COPE report is an important landmark in drawing together the principles on which researchers, authors, editors, journals and others should conduct their activities. The report emphasizes the importance of welljustified and planned research which is appropriately designed and ethically approved, and lays out a number of important conditions to ensure quality and ethical probity. The report contains important recommendations on the definition of authorship; other journals now publish explicit criteria for authorship, and the recommendations of the COPE report are important in taking this forward, and are endorsed by Family Practice. Conflict of interest is also discussed and, usefully, the report emphasizes that editors, as well as authors and reviewers, may also have a conflict of interest which needs to be disclosed and acted upon. Peer review, one of the foundations of ensuring the quality of publications, is another topic on which the COPE report provides useful guidance, which is also endorsed by Family Practice, as are the comments and recommendations relating to redundant (dual or duplicate) publication and plagiarism. The report also provides valuable guidance on the duties of editors, on media relations and on advertising. The COPE report has been widely welcomed, and should be read by all authors, reviewers and editors. It is likely that some of the action points contained in the report will require modification or expansion as the focus of publication shifts increasingly towards the appearance of early, electronic version of original papers and the almost instantaneous ‘posting’ of responses to publications without peer review. Plans are now well advanced to develop web-based and electronic access to Family Practice and to provide the opportunities for rapid responses to electronic material published in the journal.