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What does your job involve?
I manage a group of 12 editors and a portfolio of 17 biomedical journals. An important part of my role is ensuring that the policies guiding the running of our journals are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current ethical publishing practices. I work closely with each of the journal editors on the continuing development of their journals. In addition I am also editor of the journal Drug Safety, a role I have held for 12 years.
How did you get to where you are?
I started with Wolters Kluwer Health as a writer in the newsletters group and then became Editor of the newsletter Reactions Weekly, a role that lead in to my taking on Editorship of Drug Safety. The management side to my role has expanded over the years. Prior to joining Wolters Kluwer Health 15 years ago, I worked for a medical communications agency in the UK. Previous to that I was involved in research at the University of Reading and the University of Cambridge.
What are your favourite online resources?
World Association of Medical Editors
Committee on Publication Ethics
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
Medline
Equator Group
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?
I can only respond to this from the perspective of a journal editor. Journal editors are not a homogenous group and neither are the journals they work on. Therefore, although guidelines are put out by groups such as WAME and ICMJE, many different approaches to dealing with the issue of conflicts of interest funding and the role of medical writers and publication planners exist. These approaches reflect the views of the journal editors and their assessment of how the needs of their readers are best served. For example, the British Medical Journal is a member of the ICMJE but does not adhere to the ICMJE definition of authorship – the BMJ has developed its own concept of contributorship that it works to. Our journals endorse the guidelines of the ICMJE and WAME and have used them as the basis for our journal’s policies.
Does the future lie with online journals or will print journals continue to dominate for the forseeable future?
All major subscription journals are available as both print and online and the mediums complement each other. The most important difference that is developing lies between traditional subscription and the newer open access journal model, not between print and online. Publishing in whatever model requires resources and therefore monetary support. Subscription journals are supported through subscribers and other readers paying to view content whereas in open access the authors pay to have their papers published and readers get free access – the publishing process has to be paid through one route or the other. Some publishers are exploring hybrid models.
How will posting of clinical trial results on registries affect journal publications?
Journal editors will need to adapt their thinking on “prior publication” to adjust to the increasing requirement for transparency around, and public access to, clinical trial information.
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Feedback: Do you have any comments about this article? Contact the Editor, Mary Greenacre.
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