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What does your job involve?
I'm self-employed and I offer writing, editing, training and consultancy. My writing and editing are usually for pharma companies, and I mainly work on papers, abstracts and posters, although I do some educational material too. I train on topics such as how to write a paper, publication strategies, publication ethics, critical evaluation of papers and writing for patients. My consultancy work mainly involves advising on publication ethics, and I've helped pharma companies, agencies and publishers to develop their policies.
How did you get to where you are?
After my degree in Zoology, I became a copy editor for Blackwell Scientific Publications, but soon discovered that I wanted to write as well as edit. After several short-term jobs and voluntary posts (including work for Amnesty International), I joined Janssen-Cilag UK as a medical writer and stayed there for 7 years. I was then headhunted to join Glaxo-Wellcome to set up an international publications department. Redundancy followed 2 years later, at which point I decided to go freelance.
I first became involved in publication ethics when I led the group responsible for developing the Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines back in 1998. I set up this group because I could see that bad practices were happening in some companies, whilst other companies behaved very ethically. I did not want all companies to be tarred with the same brush because of the bad practices of a few! I was subsequently invited to be on the BMJ ethics committee, and my involvement in publication ethics has grown from then on.
What do you enjoy most and least about your job?
I love the training work that I do and the travel that goes with it. I've trained on five continents and have met people from all around the world. One specific piece of work that comes to mind is the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flow charts. These have been included on many journal websites and translated into several languages – it's very satisfying to see them so widely used.
The part I enjoy least is when companies cannot make up their minds what they want and mess you around. I'm also not too keen on the financial aspects of running my own business.
What are your favourite online resources?
Google Scholar
Medline
EQUATOR
BMJ
World Association of Medical Editors
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
Council of Science Editors
What are the most important issues in publication planning – past, present and future?
Bad publication practices by some pharma companies in the past have led to a lack of trust in pharma company publications which still persists. I think that greater transparency is important to rebuild trust and this has greatly improved across the industry as a whole in recent years. Even recently reported issues concern publication practices of some years ago. If most companies continue with or adopt good publication practices, hopefully trust will improve.
The FDA Amendment Act will have a major impact on the timing of publications and may change their nature. In the future, if substantial amounts of trial data are posted onto clinicaltrials.gov, journals may move towards providing more commentary and analysis of clinical trial results, rather than being the primary data source. This will also have implications for authors and investigators, as no authors will be listed for data on clinicaltrials.gov.
What are the challenges in deciding authorship of papers reporting large, multicentre studies with many investigators, and how can this contribute to timely, high quality publications?
I think that decisions on authorship must be made on a case by case basis. It's definitely a good idea to have a written agreement right at the start of a trial on the roles that will qualify someone for authorship e.g. developing the protocol, recruiting large numbers of patients. Everyone who meets these criteria should qualify for authorship, providing that they then actively contribute to development of the paper. I'm a great believer in listing contributions – if readers can see the exact role of all authors in a study and in development of the paper, then they can make up their own minds about the value of their contribution!
I also believe that journals should give clearer guidance on who qualifies as an author, and that we should move towards a real uniform requirement. Although most journals state that they follow ICMJE uniform requirements, many often also have their own rules and don't always follow all of the ICJME rules. Some journals give very poor guidance. In my view, both companies and academia need more guidance and there should be a more pro-active approach towards training in this area, particularly from professional organisations.
Have publication planners got the balance right between ethics and the commercial needs of the pharma industry? Do journal Editors have the right balance between ethics, needs of their readers and the commercial needs of their journal?
This is hard to generalise about. Some journal editors are not even aware of the issues, whilst I think that some do over-react. Equally, some pharma companies have first-rate policies but others lag behind. It's the same for communication agencies – some give their pharma clients excellent advice on good practices but others are still prepared to do whatever the client wants, even when it contravenes good practice.
Does the future lie with online journals or will print journals continue to dominate for the forseeable future?
I think that the future lies with online publication and the major print journals are already moving in this direction. For example, the BMJ recently started a policy of continuous publication on their website. Time will tell how things will go for free access online journals (e.g. PLoS, BioMed Central).
Is 'marketing' a dirty word in relation to publication planning?
I think that publishing clinical trials is the most ethical form of marketing! People must accept that pharma companies have commercial objectives. For example, marketing will determine target prescribers of a drug and this in turn will determine which journals to submit to. That said, it is important to commit to full publication of trial results, not selective publication depending on marketing needs.
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