EDITORIAL III
EDITORIAL III DUAL PUBLICATION OF ABSTRACTS
been accepted for publication by any journal. However, this does not preclude presentation outside the U.K. If, however, presentation outside the U.K. is followed by publication of an abstract, then as far as we are concerned, an abstract of the same work should not be published in British Journal of Anaesthesia after presentation at the Anaesthetic Research Society. It would not be necessary to draw the attention of our readers to this situation if intending authors would consult carefully the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals [4]. Here it is stated, "When submitting a paper, an author should always make a full statement to the editors about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as prior or duplicate publication of the same or very similar work. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the editor to decide how to deal with the matter". These strictures do not apply if authors have received a written definite rejection from an editor. Duplicate publication of the same material in abstract form would become less common if secretaries of scientific Societies clarified their rules regarding previous presentations and prior publications. The source of confusion hinges usually over the definition of the terms "national" and "international" in the context of scientific meetings. Journals fulfil a valuable function in publishing abstracts of scientific meetings so that investigators throughout the world may be apprised of the most recent advances in research. However, as observed elsewhere [2], "space in journals is precious and competed for by authors ". This applies, as far as this journal is concerned, not only to full publications but also to abstracts. G. Smith Editor
REFERENCES 1. Smith G, Miller R, Saidman LJ, Morgan M. Ethics in publishing. British Journal of Anaesthesia 1991; 66: 421-422. 2. Bevan DR. Duplicate and divided publication. Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia 1991; 38: 267-269. 3. Roberts JG. Publishing in our Journals: Ethics and honesty. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care 1991; 19: 163-164. 4. International Committee for Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. British Medical Journal 1988; 296: 401^105.
Downloaded from http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/ at New York University on June 9, 2015
Recently, in common with some other journals, we drew attention to the undesirable and unacceptable practice of divided and dual publication in anaesthetic journals [1-3]. The Editors of all the leading anaesthetic journals are unanimous in condemning these practices. The only possible exception to this rule is that some journals may permit restricted reproduction of a paper in a foreign language, provided that such an article is published in a journal with a very limited circulation confined to the host country. British Journal of Anaesthesia occasionally permits such foreign language reproduction ; on every occasion permission of the copyright holder, in this instance ourselves, must be obtained, but courtesy demands also that permission of the authors must be sought. If copyright has been waived, as in the case of articles such as the Uniform Requirements [4] or "Ethics in Publishing" which appeared simultaneously in Anaesthesia, Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia and British Journal of Anaesthesia, then there is no impediment to further duplicate publication or multiple photocopying of such articles. Since publication of our editorial [1], another example of unacceptable dual publication has appeared in recent issues of British Journal of Anaesthesia and Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia; namely, publication of abstracts of the same work presented to national scientific meetings in Canada and the U.K. This situation has arisen because different national and specialist scientific Societies have imprecise rules regarding prior publication or presentation at national meetings. Occasionally, authors indulge themselves by presenting the same material at national meetings in two different countries and, as some Societies publish abstracts of presentations automatically, there will be dual publication of respective abstracts, particularly where there is photo-reproduction of camera-ready copy. This situation does not apply, however, to British Journal of Anaesthesia, which subjects all abstracts of scientific meetings to the same rules that are applied to original material for duplicate publication. Currently, we publish the abstracts of the Anaesthetic Research Society only, and have done so since its founding as the Anaesthetic Research Group in 1958. The current rules of this Society state that material for presentation should not have been presented previously at a national meeting in the U.K. and should not have been published or have
EDITORIAL III DUAL PUBLICATION OF ABSTRACTS
been accepted for publication by any journal. However, this does not preclude presentation outside the U.K. If, however, presentation outside the U.K. is followed by publication of an abstract, then as far as we are concerned, an abstract of the same work should not be published in British Journal of Anaesthesia after presentation at the Anaesthetic Research Society. It would not be necessary to draw the attention of our readers to this situation if intending authors would consult carefully the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals [4]. Here it is stated, "When submitting a paper, an author should always make a full statement to the editors about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as prior or duplicate publication of the same or very similar work. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the editor to decide how to deal with the matter". These strictures do not apply if authors have received a written definite rejection from an editor. Duplicate publication of the same material in abstract form would become less common if secretaries of scientific Societies clarified their rules regarding previous presentations and prior publications. The source of confusion hinges usually over the definition of the terms "national" and "international" in the context of scientific meetings. Journals fulfil a valuable function in publishing abstracts of scientific meetings so that investigators throughout the world may be apprised of the most recent advances in research. However, as observed elsewhere [2], "space in journals is precious and competed for by authors ". This applies, as far as this journal is concerned, not only to full publications but also to abstracts. G. Smith Editor
REFERENCES 1. Smith G, Miller R, Saidman LJ, Morgan M. Ethics in publishing. British Journal of Anaesthesia 1991; 66: 421-422. 2. Bevan DR. Duplicate and divided publication. Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia 1991; 38: 267-269. 3. Roberts JG. Publishing in our Journals: Ethics and honesty. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care 1991; 19: 163-164. 4. International Committee for Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. British Medical Journal 1988; 296: 401^105.
Downloaded from http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/ at New York University on June 9, 2015
Recently, in common with some other journals, we drew attention to the undesirable and unacceptable practice of divided and dual publication in anaesthetic journals [1-3]. The Editors of all the leading anaesthetic journals are unanimous in condemning these practices. The only possible exception to this rule is that some journals may permit restricted reproduction of a paper in a foreign language, provided that such an article is published in a journal with a very limited circulation confined to the host country. British Journal of Anaesthesia occasionally permits such foreign language reproduction ; on every occasion permission of the copyright holder, in this instance ourselves, must be obtained, but courtesy demands also that permission of the authors must be sought. If copyright has been waived, as in the case of articles such as the Uniform Requirements [4] or "Ethics in Publishing" which appeared simultaneously in Anaesthesia, Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia and British Journal of Anaesthesia, then there is no impediment to further duplicate publication or multiple photocopying of such articles. Since publication of our editorial [1], another example of unacceptable dual publication has appeared in recent issues of British Journal of Anaesthesia and Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia; namely, publication of abstracts of the same work presented to national scientific meetings in Canada and the U.K. This situation has arisen because different national and specialist scientific Societies have imprecise rules regarding prior publication or presentation at national meetings. Occasionally, authors indulge themselves by presenting the same material at national meetings in two different countries and, as some Societies publish abstracts of presentations automatically, there will be dual publication of respective abstracts, particularly where there is photo-reproduction of camera-ready copy. This situation does not apply, however, to British Journal of Anaesthesia, which subjects all abstracts of scientific meetings to the same rules that are applied to original material for duplicate publication. Currently, we publish the abstracts of the Anaesthetic Research Society only, and have done so since its founding as the Anaesthetic Research Group in 1958. The current rules of this Society state that material for presentation should not have been presented previously at a national meeting in the U.K. and should not have been published or have
