ABSTRACT
Most medical journals regard posting on a preprint server, or on a personal or institutional website, to be equivalent to publication and someone should therefore avoid doing this before their paper has been published. If serious problem is discovered with the work before publication, contact the journal or conference immediately and ask to withdraw it. Some conferences accept placeholder abstracts which describe the design of a study but not the results. Companies and researchers should commit to publishing all their studies, otherwise they will be contributing to publication bias. World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) is a virtual organisation, relying largely on electronic communication rather than meetings. If one considers the first criterion for authorship recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) it quickly becomes apparent that more people could potentially qualify as authors than can practically be included. It can be helpful to designate a writing group at the start of a study.
