Editorial Policy and Author Attestations
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The key areas that investigators
must control for research to be considered potentially publishable in JMCP include:
- Study
design
- Patient
recruitment or patient selection (and inclusion/exclusion criteria)
- Data
inclusion and exclusion
- Data
interpretation
- Writing
and revision of the manuscript
- Decision
to publish (all) results
Contractual or legal obligations
with the sponsor that allow the sponsor to assert influence over a manuscript
during its editorial review and publication, including the employment of 1 or
more authors by the study sponsor, are permissible but must be disclosed.
Bias in research and in the publication of findings can be introduced from
conflicts of interest arising from a multitude of sources, some of which may be
subtle. In addition to the obvious conflict that can be introduced from
employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony,
and free goods or services, bias can arise from friendships, family
relationships, involvement in nonprofit organizations related to the topic of
the manuscript, or academic competition. For a complete listing of required
disclosures, please refer to the Principal Author Responsibility, Financial Disclosure,
Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgement form and the Coauthor Disclosure and Attestation of Manuscript
Contribution form.
To manage potential bias, authors
and reviewers, particularly expert reviewers, are required to make certain
attestations and disclosures:
1. disclose the existence of
potential conflicts
2. attest to the absence of certain
potential conflicts
3. describe the role of sponsors in
study design, data acquisition, interpretation of data, writing and revising
the manuscript, and in the decision to approve the final manuscript for
publication
4. author attestation to full access
to all data and accountability for study findings and reporting
Instructions for authors
1. The principal author is the
corresponding author and must complete the 4-page form, “Principal Author
Responsibility, Financial Disclosure, Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgement.”
This author attestation form adheres to the guidance from the International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) including complete and accurate
disclosure of all“potential conflicts of interest.” [available at: http://www.icmje.org/updated_coi.pdf]
2. Financial interests include
consultancies, honoraria, lecture fees, stock ownership or options, payment for
expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties for the past
3 years and the foreseeable future with any organization or entity with a
commercial or other financial interest in the subject matter of this
manuscript, including advisory boards, speakers’ bureaus, medical education
companies, etc. These disclosures must also include (a) whether payment or
support in kind was received for any aspect of the submitted manuscript
including payment for writing or reviewing the manuscript or support in kind
such as medical writing or administrative assistance, and (b) “interactions
with ANY entity that could be considered broadly relevant to the work,”
consistent with the ICMJE Uniform Disclosure Form for Potential Conflicts of
Interest [available at: http://www.icmje.org/sample_disclosure.pdf]
3. Each listed coauthor must
complete the 3-page form, “Coauthor Disclosure and Attestation of Manuscript
Contribution.”
4. Many articles involve research
that may pose a threat to either patient safety or privacy. It is the
responsibility of the principal author to ensure that the manuscript is
submitted with either the result of review by the appropriate institutional
review board (IRB) or a statement of why the research is exempt from IRB review
– see JMCP Policy for Protecting Patient Safety and Privacy.