On editorial comments

Abstract

Of late, editorial comments in medical journals seem to have increased in frequency and length. My review of a medical journal (Critical Care Medicine) for the months of July, August, and September, 1997, showed that of 84 articles, 28 (32%) were supplemented by an editorial comment. The aggregated number of pages for articles supplemented by an editorial comment was 185 and the aggregated number of pages for editorial comments was 59 (32%). Overall, 12·6% of all printed material is dedicated to editorial comments. Finally, close inspection of the editorial comments shows that the list of references of the editorial comment are often longer than that of the article being editorialised.If the articles are so obscure, so abstract, or incomplete, or whatever, why not have the authors amend their submission before it is accepted for publication? If the commentator knows so much about the subject, why does not he write his own article and submit it to some other journal and subject himself to the process of peer and editorial review, rather than bypassing it completely? Of late, editorial comments in medical journals seem to have increased in frequency and length. My review of a medical journal (Critical Care Medicine) for the months of July, August, and September, 1997, showed that of 84 articles, 28 (32%) were supplemented by an editorial comment. The aggregated number of pages for articles supplemented by an editorial comment was 185 and the aggregated number of pages for editorial comments was 59 (32%). Overall, 12·6% of all printed material is dedicated to editorial comments. Finally, close inspection of the editorial comments shows that the list of references of the editorial comment are often longer than that of the article being editorialised. If the articles are so obscure, so abstract, or incomplete, or whatever, why not have the authors amend their submission before it is accepted for publication? If the commentator knows so much about the subject, why does not he write his own article and submit it to some other journal and subject himself to the process of peer and editorial review, rather than bypassing it completely?