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Ethical Issues in Publishing

This editorial discusses ethical issues in publishing research, including obtaining proper consent and following ethical standards. Journals have a responsibility to ensure submitted research meets ethical standards, such as gaining approval from an ethics committee and obtaining informed consent. Other issues include fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. The Committee on Publication Ethics provides guidance for editors on integrity in publishing. Radiography is committed to upholding high ethical standards in research publication.

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Giovanne Gono
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41 views

Ethical Issues in Publishing

This editorial discusses ethical issues in publishing research, including obtaining proper consent and following ethical standards. Journals have a responsibility to ensure submitted research meets ethical standards, such as gaining approval from an ethics committee and obtaining informed consent. Other issues include fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. The Committee on Publication Ethics provides guidance for editors on integrity in publishing. Radiography is committed to upholding high ethical standards in research publication.

Uploaded by

Giovanne Gono
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Radiography (2009) 15, 95e96

available at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radi

EDITORIAL

Ethical issues in publishing


Ethical standards set out important rules and guidelines to consent has been obtained for publication in print and
govern the behaviour of organisations and practitioners electronic form.
across whole spectra of activities. For example, in clinical Publication ethics are not only concerned with ethical
practice, ethical standards are vital as they provide the approval and consent. Other serious problems that have
framework which governs the relationship between a prac- troubled editors have been research misconduct. This can
titioner and a patient. Research should also take place come in a variety of forms including fabrication, falsifica-
within an ethical framework and where human subjects are tion, unethical experimentation and plagiarism. These are
involved ethical approval must be sort as an endorsement not always easy to detect despite the peer review process.
that the investigation is justified and morally sound. The In medicine there have been a number of high profile cases
College of Radiographers in its Code of Conduct and Ethics1 of misconduct; for the interested reader, Richard Smith,
includes a paragraph on integrity in research. It gives clear a past editor of the BMJ has highlighted the problem and
guidance on the need to ‘protect the interests and confi- some high profile cases.3
dentiality of patients and ensure that you do not distort or A journal’s publisher also provides essential support for
misuse clinical and research findings.’ In medicine and editors and there are other supporting organisations one of
related areas the expectation is that research involving which is The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)4
human subjects including identifiable human material and established in 1997. COPE is a forum to discuss the integrity
data comply with the ethical standards of the Declaration of peer-reviewed publications in science. Recently, Elsev-
of Helsinki. This was established by the World Medical ier, our publisher, listed all its journals with COPE, to
Association in 1964 although it has been amended, most provide editors with additional guidance if needed.
recently in 2008.2 Although not binding in law it is never- Integrity of publication is essential for journals and
theless a powerful document in which researchers would be Radiography is no exception and where the peer review
irresponsible to ignore. process is at the heart of what we do. All those involved in
But what is the significance of research ethics for Radiography strive to uphold excellence in the fields of
journals? diagnostic radiography and imaging, radiation therapy and
Journals are the main media in which research articles oncology by the publication of research and other scholarly
are published. Editors therefore have the responsibility to activity that is ethically sustainable.
ensure that, where appropriate, research articles Finally and following on from my last editorial I am
submitted for publication meet the ethical standards pleased to announce that two more special on-line issues
required by the journal. Radiography is no exception and are planned. Dr. Pauline Reeves will be the Guest Editor for
authors are asked to indicate whether any procedures a history edition which will appear at the end of the year.
carried out on humans were in accordance with the ethical The history edition will be timely as it will lead us into the
standards of the World Medical Association. The expecta- 90th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Radiog-
tion being that a study involving human subjects has raphers in 2010. In 2010 I am very pleased to announce that
received prior approval from an appropriate ethics there will be a radiotherapy special edition. Further infor-
committee and that subjects have given their informed mation will appear on this in due course.
consent; this to be documented in the article. Human
subjects have a right to privacy and therefore identifying
information and data including patients, images, photo- References
graphs, names, initials, or hospital numbers should not be
included in written descriptions unless the information is 1. The Society and College of Radiographers. Code of conduct and
essential for scientific purposes and written informed ethics, http://doc-lib.sor.org/; 2008 [accessed 04.03.09].

1078-8174/$ - see front matter ª 2009 The College of Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.radi.2009.03.001
96 Editorial

2. World Medical Association, http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3. Richard Price


htm. The declaration of Helsinki [accessed 04.03.09]. School of Health & Emergency Professions,
3. Smith R. Publication ethics: an embarrassing amount of room for University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield,
improvement. BMJ http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/interactive/ Herts AL10 9AB,
talks; 2002 [accessed 04.03.09].
United Kingdom
4. The Committee on Publication Ethics, http://publicationethics.
org/ [accessed 04.03.09].
E-mail address: [email protected]

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