Radiography (2009) 15, 95e96

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EDITORIAL

Ethical issues in publishing

Ethical standards set out important rules and guidelines togovern the behaviour of organisations and practitionersacross whole spectra of activities. For example, in clinicalpractice, ethical standards are vital as they provide theframework which governs the relationship between a prac-titioner and a patient. Research should also take placewithin an ethical framework and where human subjects areinvolved ethical approval must be sort as an endorsementthat the investigation is justified and morally sound. TheCollege of Radiographers in its Code of Conduct and Ethics1

includes a paragraph on integrity in research. It gives clearguidance on the need to ‘protect the interests and confi-dentiality of patients and ensure that you do not distort ormisuse clinical and research findings.’ In medicine andrelated areas the expectation is that research involvinghuman subjects including identifiable human material anddata comply with the ethical standards of the Declarationof Helsinki. This was established by the World MedicalAssociation in 1964 although it has been amended, mostrecently in 2008.2 Although not binding in law it is never-theless a powerful document in which researchers would beirresponsible to ignore.

But what is the significance of research ethics forjournals?

Journals are the main media in which research articlesare published. Editors therefore have the responsibility toensure that, where appropriate, research articlessubmitted for publication meet the ethical standardsrequired by the journal. Radiography is no exception andauthors are asked to indicate whether any procedurescarried out on humans were in accordance with the ethicalstandards of the World Medical Association. The expecta-tion being that a study involving human subjects hasreceived prior approval from an appropriate ethicscommittee and that subjects have given their informedconsent; this to be documented in the article. Humansubjects have a right to privacy and therefore identifyinginformation and data including patients, images, photo-graphs, names, initials, or hospital numbers should not beincluded in written descriptions unless the information isessential for scientific purposes and written informed

1078-8174/$ - see front matter ª 2009 The College of Radiographers. Pdoi:10.1016/j.radi.2009.03.001

consent has been obtained for publication in print andelectronic form.

Publication ethics are not only concerned with ethicalapproval and consent. Other serious problems that havetroubled editors have been research misconduct. This cancome in a variety of forms including fabrication, falsifica-tion, unethical experimentation and plagiarism. These arenot always easy to detect despite the peer review process.In medicine there have been a number of high profile casesof misconduct; for the interested reader, Richard Smith,a past editor of the BMJ has highlighted the problem andsome high profile cases.3

A journal’s publisher also provides essential support foreditors and there are other supporting organisations one ofwhich is The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)4

established in 1997. COPE is a forum to discuss the integrityof peer-reviewed publications in science. Recently, Elsev-ier, our publisher, listed all its journals with COPE, toprovide editors with additional guidance if needed.

Integrity of publication is essential for journals andRadiography is no exception and where the peer reviewprocess is at the heart of what we do. All those involved inRadiography strive to uphold excellence in the fields ofdiagnostic radiography and imaging, radiation therapy andoncology by the publication of research and other scholarlyactivity that is ethically sustainable.

Finally and following on from my last editorial I ampleased to announce that two more special on-line issuesare planned. Dr. Pauline Reeves will be the Guest Editor fora history edition which will appear at the end of the year.The history edition will be timely as it will lead us into the90th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Radiog-raphers in 2010. In 2010 I am very pleased to announce thatthere will be a radiotherapy special edition. Further infor-mation will appear on this in due course.

References

1. The Society and College of Radiographers. Code of conduct andethics, http://doc-lib.sor.org/; 2008 [accessed 04.03.09].

ublished by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

96 Editorial

2. World Medical Association, http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm. The declaration of Helsinki [accessed 04.03.09].

3. Smith R. Publication ethics: an embarrassing amount of room forimprovement. BMJ http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/interactive/talks; 2002 [accessed 04.03.09].

4. The Committee on Publication Ethics, http://publicationethics.org/ [accessed 04.03.09].

Richard PriceSchool of Health & Emergency Professions,

University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield,Herts AL10 9AB,United Kingdom

E-mail address: radiographyjournal@sor.org