Announcements

WAME and Editorial Independence

The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) expresses serious concern related to the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA) recent dismissal of the Canadian Medical Association Journal's (CMAJ) editor, John Fletcher. Particularly concerning is that CMA appears to have chosen to disband rather than to engage the organization’s Journal Oversight Committee coincident with this action. Of note, the CMA dismissed a previous CMAJ editor in 2006. Removing editors for unclear reasons raises concerns about publisher interference that violates the principles of editorial independence advocated by WAME,1 the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors,2 the Council of Science Editors,3 and the Council on Publication Ethics4.
WAME Executive Committee

 

References

  1. http://www.wame.org/about/policy-statements#Relationship%20between%20Editors%20and%20Owners (accessed March 2, 2016)
  2. http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/journal-owners-and-editorial-freedom.html (accessed March 2, 2016)
  3. http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/ (accessed March 2, 2016)
  4. http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20publishers%20FINAL_1_0_0.pdf (accessed March 2, 2016)

 

WAME March 2016

To read WAME's Statement on Editors' Role in Promoting Global Health, visit the Resources (Only accessible by Members).

 
 
 
 

Alltrials.net Initiative

WAME supports the Alltrials.net initiative as an extension of its Trial Registration policy, echoing the call to governments, regulators, research and medical associations, universities, ethics committees, as well as medical journals and publishers, to commit to publishing in full results of all clinical trials testing treatments.
 

Support WAME

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, WAME accepts grants and contributions as a charitable organization to further its mission of educating editors around the world. WAME's Bylaws are available from here. For more information or to donate, contact WAME.
 

Publishing Corrections Regarding Possibly Misleading Information

 

WAME Editorial (freely accessible)

Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals: The World Association of Medical Editors Position on a Challenging Problem by Lorraine Ferris and Robert Fletcher, which addresses the WAME Policy Statement Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals. The policy from the Editorial Policy and Publication Ethics Committees addresses conflict of interest issues and approaches for authors, peer reviewers, and editors.