Editorial Guidelines and APAME
Prof Dr. John T Arokiasamy
Immediate Past President APAME
Professor and Head Community Medicine,International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur

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1Outline• Concerns with publications• Available selected guidelines and scope• Experience elsewhere - FAME
• What about APAME-WPRIM?

2Introduction• Publication in peer-reviewed journals is an
integral part of biomedical research• Concerns and omissions in publications• Transparency in reporting• Policies need to target researchers, authors,editors, organisations/associations, others

3Introduction• The Declaration of Helsinki, updated in 2008,
places accuracy and completeness among theprimary ethical obligations of individuals
communicating medical research, and• suggests that “reports of research not inaccordance with [its] principles should not be
accepted for publication.”4Some available Guidelines• What guidance is available for reporting research studies?
• In addition to the Uniform Requirements, a number of reporting
guidelines were developed by groups of experts to facilitate
reporting of research studies. Medical journals, including BMJ,
JAMA, Lancet, and NEJM often require compliance to all or some of
the following reporting guidelines:• CONSORT Statement (reporting of randomized controlled trials)• STARD (reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies)• STROBE (reporting of observational studies in epidemiology)• PRISMA (reporting of systematic reviews), which replaced
QUOROM• MOOSE (reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies)5Some available guidelines• COPE Committee on Publication Ethics• CSE Council of Scientific Editors• FAME Forum for African Medical Editors• HINARI Health InterNetwork Access to ResearchInitiative• ICMJE International Committee of Medical JournalEditors• QUOROM Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses• WAME World Association of Medical Editors• WMA World Medical Association• WHO World Health Organization
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Medical Research Council
Good Research Practice Guidelines• foster a culture which supports and embeds
good research practice and aims to prevent
research misconduct• Guidelines emphasise:– Research excellence and integrity:– Respect, ethics and professional standards– Honesty and transparency– Openness and accountability
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Good publication practice forcommunicating company sponsored
medical research: the GPP2 guidelines
Source: BMJ 2009;339:b4330 doi: 10.1136/bmj.b4330• In response to changes in the environment inwhich authors, presenters, and othercollaborators around the world work together tocommunicate medical research,• the International Society for Medical Publication
Professionals has updated the good publication
practice guidelines for developing articles andpresentations in a responsible and ethicalmanner
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GPP2• Integrity• Completeness• Transparency• Accountability• Responsibility

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Good publication practice forpharmaceutical companies
Source: Good publication practice for pharmaceutical companies
Elizabeth Wager, Elizabeth A. Field and Leni Grossman CURRENT MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OPINION® VOL. 19,NO. 3, 2003, 149–154

1998 – Retreat organised by the Council of Biology Editors(Council of Science Editors) - journal editors,
academics/investigators and pharmaceutical company
employees involved with publications• Relationship between pharmaceutical companies andacademic investigators• Publication bias
• Enhance Transparency• Avoidance of redundant publication of positive findings• Professional writers - developing peer reviewed papers• [The European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) Guidelines]
10Media• we must give our audiences content made tothe highest editorial and ethicalstandards. Their trust depends on it. (BBC)• Online inaccuracies can spread quickly, widelyand irreversibly – ABC• In the digital age, it is important for online
media to be clear and precise. Online readers
have even less patience than readers of printmaterial - TIME
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Editorial Policies and the Media• Trust• Truth and Accuracy• Impartiality• Editorial Integrity and Independence• Serving the public interest• Transparency• Accountability• Editorial Integrity and Independence from ExternalInterests• Conflicts of Interest• Timely reports can avert harm, improve decision12

Forum for African Medical Editors (FAME)
Editorial Guidelines• http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/TDR_RCS_FAME_04.2.pdf• A postal survey on 63 African medical journals(2002) found that the majority of medical andhealth journals– did not publish regularly,– lacked high quality articles and standard peer review
practice– were mostly invisible to the rest of the international
medical community– Technical skills of editors need to be upgraded in mostsettings

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FAME– Reviewers often non-compliant with journal
guidelines, some have conflict of interest, andothers lack confidentiality and objectivity.
– Networking among different journals is non
existent, leaving most journal editors to work in
isolation– Increasingly, medical editors have to grapple withethical considerations– many researchers and authors lack the knowledge
required to address ethical issues
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FAME
• Recommendation to produce FAME editorial guidelinesthat would be applied by African medical journals inorder to standardize their practices and improve thequality and visibility of their publications• review existing guidelines (WAME, CSE and COPE),• adapt them to Africa and• compile them into a brief printed handbook.
• The guidelines cover essential areas of editorial andpublishing standards, ethics and scientific integrity,
data reporting and analysis, referencing andbibliographic citations.
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FAME
• Directed at: editors, reviewers and authors.
• Essential documents such as the Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts to Biomedical
Journals (http://www.icmje.org/index.html )and the Helsinki Declaration have been
reproduced in the appendices of this booklet
for ready reference

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Editorial Policies

APAME – Initiatives, Moving Forward

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APAME• the “Mission of APAME” is to contribute to theimprovement of health in the Asia PacificRegion by ensuring the quality of healthrelated information published in medical
journals, which are utilized for better decisionmaking and effective delivery of healthservices

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APAME/WPRIM• Number of articles from WPRIM (WesternPacific Region) is the biggest relative to otherregions• WPRIM covers 431,296 articles and 496
journal titles from 12 member states

Source: JW Seo Past, Current and Future of WPRIM / APAME

20APAME/WPRIM•
•
••••
•
•
•
•

China
226,537 articles, 224 journals
Republic of Korea
163,788 articles, 192 journals
Japan
14,261 articles, 13 journals
Singapore
11,228 articles, 5 journals
Vietnam
6,418 articles, 12 journals
Malaysia
5,326 articles, 20 journals
Philippines
2,176 articles, 17 journals
Papua New Guinea
1 ,340 articles 1 journals
Mongolia
175 articles, 8 journals
Cambodia(9 articles, 1 journal), Laos(8 articles, 1 journal),
Brunei(0 articles, 1 journals) and WPRO(30 articles, 1journal)
Source: JW Seo Past, Current and Future of WPRIM / APAME
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APAME/WPRIM• a new full text service portal APAMED Central
was launched at Kuala Lumpur on 31 August2012 to hold journals from two regions.
• the development of APAME and editorial
policy and guidelines will be closely linked tofuture advancement of the WPRIM

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Some preliminary thoughts
Working Document for the Discussion of Editing and Peer Review(JA and Wang De)• Understand the situation of editingand peer review in the Asia PacificRegion, the achievements made, andthe problems that hinder journals
from improving their quality.
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Some preliminary thoughts• Seek feasible approaches to improve thequality of editing and peer review for medical
journals in Asia Pacific Region.
• Maintain continuous discussion and try toreach consensus on major issues on medical
editing and peer review.
• Hold workshops on medical writing, editingand peer review.
24Some preliminary thoughts
WORKING DRAFT APAME Editorial Policies (JMC Avila)• Medical Editors Responsibilities• Conflicts of interest, journal bias, andconfidentiality of information• Decisions about a manuscript should be basedon its importance, originality, clarity andrelevance to the journals scope and content.

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Efforts to move forward - JAMJE• JAMJE questionnaire survey (2012)• Target: Editors of journals published by 112
member societies of JAMS
• To clarify the topics to be included in the JAMJE
editorial guidelines, to meet not onlyinternational standards but also Japanese needs• How to deal with increasing manuscripts• Language concerns• How to meet requirements of all society
members26

Efforts to move forward – APAME (Looi LM)
APAME ETHICS AND EDITORIAL POLICY COMMITTEE Report 2013 (Looi LM)

Action Plan:
Ethics and Editorial Policy• Affirm Peer-review• Transparent Editorial process• Editorial independence27Efforts to move forward – APAME (Looi LM)• Published Guidelines/ Instructions to authors• Journal technical requirements (manuscriptpreparation)• Ethical requirements (authorship, IRBapproval, conflict of interest)• Have a code of conduct for editors• Have a code of conduct for reviewers• Policy for handling allegations of misconduct
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Concluding Remarks• The Future – We have an Action Plan. Role offuture opportunities to meet and push thisagenda?
• developing guidelines is an iterative process
and it is never possible to consult witheverybody who might have something useful
to contribute.
• regular review and discussion will lead tocontinually rising standards
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THANK YOU30