ICMJE: All authors of medical journal articles have 'Responsibility to stand by the integrity of the entire work'

摘要

In its latest revision to its recommendations for researchers submitting scientific articles to medical journals, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has added a new requirement that emphasizes the responsibility of each author to stand by the integrity of the entire work (http://bit.ly/16h2Vna). Recommendations from the ICMJE are followed by hundreds of medical journals worldwide. The participatingjournals and organizations and their representatives who approved the revised recommendations include 12 journals (including JAMA), the US National Library of Medicine, and the World Association of Medical Editors. The new recommendation was added to 3 existing criteria for authorship. These specify that each author must contribute substantially to the conception or design of the research or to data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; participate in drafting the article or revising it "critically for important intellectual content"; and give final approval of the version to be published. The ICMJE said the motivation for adding the new criterion was journals grappling with questions that arose about scientific misconduct related to some aspect of a study or paper and individual authors denying having responsibility for resolving such questions, saying in essence that they "didn't participate in that part of the study or in writing that part of the paper; ask someone else." The ICMJE acknowledges that because of the "specialized and myriad tasks frequently involved in research," most authors of a journal article are unable to be directly involved in every aspect of the work. Nevertheless, the group said, each author is ac-countableforthework-meaningthey should know the role of each person in the work as a whole, avoid collaborating with coauthors who inspire concerns about the integrity and quality of their work, and help resolve any questions about the work that may arise. By requiring each author to be accountable, "the new criterion better balances credit with responsibility and establishes the expectation that editors may engage all authors in helping to determine the integrity of the work," the ICMJE said.