ABSTRACT

This chapter describes many of the ethical issues that arise in the publication process. Publication of any personal information about a patient will normally require the consent of the patient. Positive results are likely to be published more than once, whereas negative results may not be published at all. One complex problem around publication is whether editors should refuse to publish particular kinds of research. The publication issue that gives rise to the most disputes is authorship. It matters greatly to both authors and editors, but authors think mainly about credit whereas editors think about accountability. In fact, the two are inseparable. Few editors have had training in ethics, and most have had little experience of the ethical issues thrown up by publication – not least because most editors of medical journals have been appointed because of their research achievements and have had little training and direct experience of editing journals.