This month I want to recap the Publishing 101 session I attended at Experimental Biology ’13 in Boston on Monday, April 22, 2013. This session expands on some of the tips I have been discussing over the past few months.
Publishing 101 was sponsored by the American Physiological Society’s Publications Committee and was geared to informing scientists how to get their work published in the society’s journals.
The publisher’s goal is to publish high-quality scientific work that is conducted ethically.
In this session, Hershel Raff, Ph.D. Chair of the Publications Committee, noted the ethical responsibilities of scientists are:
- honest scientific work conducted following the guidelines for treatment of animals and humans,
- accurate assignment of credit for the work conducted and fairness in the peer review process.
Some graduate programs and societies provide classes and professional development opportunities (I know because I teach them) in publication ethics. Others rely solely on professors, laboratory and department personnel to inform students of best practices in publishing. Students and all involved in publishing scientific and clinical articles should be aware of the most common ethical issues which include:
- authorship disputes,
- conflicts of interest,
- plagiarism,
- duplication of data,
- manipulation of figures,
- fabrication or falsification of data,
- human and animal welfare concerns.
For more information see Nature 435:737-738, 2005. Educate yourself about these issues and openly discuss your questions.
Tip: If you have questions about publishing practices, do your research and ask advice from those who know.