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Report of the Bellagio Conference: Proposal
Overview
We propose the creation of a global organization of editors of peer-reviewed journals, to be called the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The purpose of WAME is to facilitate worldwide cooperation among editors of peer-reviewed medical journals; to enhance the exchange of educational information; to improve editorial standards; to promote the professionalism of medical editing through education, self-criticism and self-regulation; to expand the voice and influence of medical editors; to develop mutual support; and to encourage research on the principles and practices of medical editing; so as to improve the quality of medical science and practice.
Membership in the organization is to be 1) editors or former editors who make or have made decisions about the intellectual content of manuscripts, who subscribe to certain general ethical and scientific principles, and whose journals also subscribe to these principles and use peer review, and 2) scientific scholars with research interest and activities in the field of medical editing.
Permanent governance arrangements for the Association will be decided over the next two to three years, along with a constitution and by-laws. For an interim period until September, 1997, governance will be by elected officers (Richard Horton of The Lancet - President, Daniel J. Ncayiyana of the South African Medical Journal - Vice President, John Overbeke of the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde - Secretary Treasurer, and Drummond Rennie of JAMA - Officer at Large) and a Board of Directors (ST Lee of Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, Chair, Saveli Bachtchinski of Kardiologiya, Robin Fox of The Lancet, Alejandro Goic of Revista Medica de Chile, Edward Huth of Annals of Internal Medicine, George Lundberg of JAMA, Samiran Nundy of The National Medical Journal of India, Tom Mboya Okeya of the African Journal of Medical Practice , Richard Smith of BMJ, Bruce Squires of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and Patricia Woolf of Princeton University). The officers are to carry out day-to-day tasks and the Board of Directors are to be concerned with policy issues and the drafting of a constitution and by-laws for the Association. The Officers report to the Board.
Three committees and a task force will help in developing the Association and carrying out short-term action plans: committees on Membership, Ethics, and Fund-raising, and an Electronic Network Task Force.
Short-term action plans include the following:
- Publish a Report of the meeting in as many journals as possible.
- Contact existing editor groups (CBE, EASE, Vancouver Group, IFSE) and let them know our plans. Also, work with emerging regional groups of medical editors, such as the new group of editors in the Asia-Pacific region, APSEA.
- Contact world organizations such as WHO, PAHO, World Bank, WMA, NAS, and MRC to explore how we might work with them and to explain our plans.
- Decide on final membership criteria and a mechanism to recruit and accept members.
- Work with JAMA, BMJ, and Project Hope to determine what part WAME can play in the September, 1997 Prague Congress on Biomedical Peer-Review and Global Communications.
- Develop a global electronic communication network, which will contain a "library" of key references and articles on medical journal editing, accessible to members at any time, and an electronic bulletin board to aid individual editors in communicating with each other on relevant issues and questions.
- Begin creating a global directory of medical journals and their editors.
- Draft and conduct a needs assessment survey of medical journal editors around the world.
- Publish the first of periodic newsletters, both electronically and in paper form for editors not yet connected to the network.
- Obtain funding to begin the organization, staff a small administrative office, develop the electronic network, and plan a future meeting of Association leaders.
- Make preliminary plans for periodic world congresses of WAME.
Long-term plans for WAME include encouraging research into medical editing, developing world-wide standards for medical editing, providing educational workshops and meetings in various parts of the world, and fostering regional development of medical editor groups.
Detailed Deliberations Regarding Various Aspects of WAME
Electronic Network Task Force. One of the main questions the Conference addressed was how medical journal editors can create a global electronic communication network, to discuss goals and needs and share information, ideas, and solutions. A beginning network was created in preparation for the Conference. With this experience and during discussions at the Conference, it became clear that an electronic network linking all members of the Association is key to the functioning of a global group of medical editors. Other forms of communication, such as conferences, newsletters and workshops were thought to be too infrequent and too expensive for the vast majority of editors who might be members of the Association.
An Electronic Network Task Force was therefore created, with the following members:
- Edward Huth, Chair
Saveli Bachtchinski
Iain Chalmers
Lois Ann Colaianni
Suzanne Fletcher
George Gellert
A Working Document was produced during the Conference to guide the early work of the Task Force. The Document focused on both conceptual and practical issues in creating and running an electronic network.
Conceptually, it was decided that international cooperation among medical journal editors will depend on efficient and effective communication. A critical mass of shared editorial interest has emerged in recent years and we now have compelling reasons to collaborate on several fronts. A global organization can only survive with vigorous dialogue among its widely dispersed members. An electronic network is one means to promote such cooperation.
In preparation for the Bellagio Conference, good progress was made in establishing the infrastructure for this network, by creating a listserver with the help of the US National Library of Medicine. Several things were learned from this early experience. The advantages were clearly identified. The listserver provides a rapid, inexpensive, and inclusive means of communication. However, we encountered several difficulties. Access is not universal; taking part in an electronic network demands active effort on the part of the user; and editors have differing levels of skills to make the most of the listserver. Nevertheless, the network is in place and it has provided a valuable means for communication among many Bellagio participants.
The next step is to devise priorities for the development of the network. These are five-fold:
- Create a journalology database
- Open and operate a bulletin board
- Begin a directory of members/editors
- Provide a forum for editorial working groups, and
- Provide a forum for regional collaboration
For the program to be successful, more must be learned about the access that medical journal editors have to Internet. The Vancouver Group affiliation list would be an excellent place to begin such a survey.
Once the infrastructure of the electronic network is established, administration of the content of the database must be determined. The likelihood is that we will eventually need a systems operator to manage the listserver (maintain the subscriber list, change addresses, monitor use, and resolve problems). Although the US National Library of Medicine may be able to continue to help the network in the short term, in the long term, personnel will be necessary. It is likely that local help from individuals knowledgeable about computers and networks will be necessary to help some editors connect to the network. Local experts would also be valuable for regional collaboration. Finally, an editorial panel is needed to decide what should go on the network "library" database. Once substantial documentary content is available on the database, editors may be more motivated to join and use the network.
Funding of the network is an important issue. An organizational annual subscription of $100 would probably be acceptable to most journals editors, with something less for individual editors. One of our goals must be to provide on-line access for those editors not already connected to Internet. The acquisition of hardware to connect to the network will demand substantial investment for some editors, and efforts to seek such funding must be a central component of any strategy WAME uses in its efforts to gain outside support.
Membership in WAME. A Membership Committee was formed for the Association:
- Bruce Squires, Chair
Alejandro Goic
George Lundberg
Gabor Kapocs
ST Lee
Samiran Nundy
Magne Nylenna
Tom Mboya Okeyo
The Committee's task is to develop membership criteria and application forms and recruit and determine eligibility of applicants. Two categories of membership were agreed upon: Regular Members and Honorary Members. It was unanimously agreed that of the many individuals involved in editing and publishing medical journals, the membership of WAME was to be primarily medical editors of peer-reviewed journals who make decisions about the intellectual content of manuscripts. In addition, scholars and researchers who have carried out investigations into journal matters, such as editing standards, statistics in journals, informatics, and journalology, would be eligible for membership. Such members would not have a majority representation on the Board of Directors. Honorary members would be proposed to and accepted by a governing committee and would be distinguished past editors who have made significant contributions to medical editing or journalology. Honorary members would not be eligible to hold office in the Association.
Because the World Association of Medical Editors is committed to high editing and ethical behavior, it was agreed that the Membership Committee would work with Pat Woolf of the Ethics Committee to develop, for approval by the Officers and Board of Directors, a Statement of Principles for prospective members of the Association. Such principles might include:
For medical editors and former editors: 1 Accepting and supporting the Purpose and Goals of WAME, 2. Abiding by the rules of the Association, 3. Agreeing that the health of the public is paramount and dedication to excellence and fairness and to fostering and publishing truthful and accurate reporting of scientific and medical studies, 4. Committing as a medical editor to behave ethically towards colleagues, authors, reviewers and readers, and 5. Being associated with, or having been associated with, a journal that has published its ethical principles, its commitment that published articles conform to the Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 1983, its policy for peer review (this policy must, at a minimum, state that manuscripts reporting scientific and medical data are sent to independent expert reviewers and that decisions about publication of such manuscripts take such expert reviews into account), and a position supporting editorial freedom.
For scholars and researchers: 1. Accepting the Purpose and goals of WAME, 2. Abiding by the rules of the Association, 3. Accepting that the health of the public is paramount and dedication to excellence and fairness and to fostering and publishing truthful and accurate reporting of scientific and medical studies, 4. Committing as a professional to behave ethically towards colleagues, authors, reviewers, and readers, and 5. In research, abiding by ethical and other rules of relevant institutions and granting agencies.
Funding of WAME. Establishing WAME will require external funding in addition to the unpaid efforts and hidden office support that made the planning meeting possible. Indeed, many essential activities cannot be begun on a large scale until basic infrastructure, such as an electronic network with useful contents, is in place. A Fund-raising Committee was therefore appointed for the Association:
- John Overbeke, Chair
Robert Fletcher
George Gellert
Richard Smith
Two kinds of financial support are needed: start-up funds and continuing revenue.
1. Start-up funds should be requested as soon as possible to get the organization launched. The likely sources of support are foundations (such as Rockefeller), government organizations (such as NLM or the European Community) and perhaps industry (especially for WAME's work in communications). Funding might come jointly from several sources, or different donors might be asked to support distinct parts of the organization, such as a region or a technology. It is unlikely to get start-up funds for more than three years; funders will want a plan for how the organization can be self-supporting after that time.
Categories of start-up expenses are hardware, software, and technical support for the central components of the electronic network; administrative assistance and office expenses; and communication and travel costs. It may be necessary to support start-up for individual editors in resource-poor areas of the world and to set up regional list servers.
2. Continuing revenue and self sufficiency are important once the Association is established. If it makes a strong effort, the organization can expect to bring in revenue to support its own activities. Potential sources of revenue are similar to those of other such organizations: membership dues, meetings and courses, publications, and unrestricted support from industry. Decisions must be made on appropriate criteria for accepting support from industry and foundations relatively quickly.
Most foundations can give grants only to formally established, tax-exempt educational organizations. To set up such an organization will require considerable effort, time and money - for legal services to incorporate, agreement on bylaws, auditors, etc. Because this may not be possible in the short run, there may be need for an interim solution, such as affiliation with a parent organization that does meet these requirements.
WAME's Participation in the Prague 1997 Congress. An international Congress on Biomedical Peer Review and Global Communications is to be held in Prague in September, 1997, sponsored by the American Medical Association and JAMA, the British Medical Association and BMJ, and Project Hope. The purpose of the Congress is to combine the third International Peer Review Congress (with research papers on peer review) with a one-day didactic workshop on how to set up and run editorial peer review systems (with a venue for exploring various forms of peer review) and a one-day Conference on a Global Communications Network for Biomedicine (to discuss how electronic technologies will affect the dissemination of peer-reviewed biomedical information with the goal of creating a global network). Congress participants will include editors, researchers, scholars, publishers, communications experts, librarians, journalists and industrial representatives. Approximately 300 paying participants and 200-250 sponsored scholars from the South and East are anticipated.
Because many of the aims of WAME and the Congress organizers overlap, plans will be developed for the two groups to work together as appropriate. Drummond Rennie will lead this effort. It may be possible for WAME to sponsor a portion of the Congress.
Relationships of WAME to regional editor organizations. WAME could become an umbrella organization linked to existing regional groupings of medical editors as well as help with the formation of new regional groups of medical editors. Perhaps WAME could also link with project-oriented groups, such as the Vancouver Group, Peer Review Congresses, and Locknet. Collaboration could prevent fragmentation and duplication of activity. With coordination, decisions of each group could be relayed rapidly to editors via WAME's electronic network.
Long-term strategies must be considered to ensure the growth of useful linkages among all these organizations. One useful link might be to hold WAME Congresses once every four years in conjunction with regional or other medical editor meetings. If the timing of WAME meetings could be dove-tailed with regional meetings (biennially) and project oriented task-force meetings (annually), medical editors would be able to attend a major editorial gathering at least once each year.
