ABSTRACT
The best-known guidelines covering many aspects of publication practice are the statements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Pharmaceutical industry guidelines was developed by an informal group of drug company employees who worked on publications, although it had its origins in the three-way meeting. Plagiarism is receiving increasing attention among academics and journal editors. The rapid growth of material available on the Internet, combined with near-universal access to computers, greatly facilitates plagiarism by ‘copying and pasting’, and this is recognized as a serious problem at many academic institutions. Journal editors, academic institutions, research sponsors, and commercial organizations involved in medical research should work together to agree, promote, and enforce universal standards for responsible publication. Formal training in publication ethics, as part of research training, appears to be the exception rather than the rule in UK medical colleges and universities, although this is harder to quantify.
