Drummond Rennie, MD

DRUMMOND RENNIE, MD

 

Adjunct Professor of Medicine
The PR Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
University of California

San Francisco, CA

 

 

Science does not exist until it is published in full, and can then be subjected to criticism and replication by others. The written paper is therefore an intrinsic part of the research. Authorship is the coin of advancement along the academic toll-road, and competition to get published in high-impact journals is fierce. As an editor at two of the highest impact general medical journals, I have witnessed numerous forms of deceptive uncollegial behaviors, varying from duplicate publication, failure to declare conflicts of interest, ghost and guest authorship, and failure to acknowledge the work of others, all the way to fabrication and falsification of data, and plagiarism. The single common factor is failure to take seriously the fundamental responsibilities authors bear towards their readers and each other, so no one is accountable. I have been deeply involved with efforts to rectify the problem and increase the integrity of the scientific literature on which our treatments are based. These range from setting up definitions of research misconduct, to strengthening accountability by putting in place systems to ensure that the contributions actually made by each co-author are declared to the reader.

 

Attendees will learn:

1. That science does not exist until it has been published in full, and can then be subjected to criticism and replication by others, so the written paper is an intrinsic part of the research.
2. To understand how big general medical journals function, and that because of their prominence, attain the highest impact factors, and attract the best and most competitive new research, which in turn attracts more excellent research.
3. To understand that authorship is the coin that allows a scientist to advance along the academic toll-road, and that, perhaps as a down-side of competition, this increases the incentives for various forms of deceptive uncollegial behaviors, varying from duplicate publication, failure to declare conflicts of interest, ghost and guest authorship, and failure to acknowledge the work of others, all the way to fabrication and falsification of data, and plagiarism.
4. Understand efforts being made to strengthen the bond between author and reader, and to increase the integrity of the published work on which clinical practice is based.