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The Oncologist’s conflict of interest policy requires complete transparency between the Journal’s editors, the investigator-author(s), and any medical writer(s). The Journal requires identification of the medical writer(s) and clarification of their role (see table below). As part of this policy, the Journal requires that the Corresponding Author stipulate his/her principal authorship and responsibility for the content of the paper. The policy further requires that any and all correspondence from manuscript submission onward must be conducted exclusively by and between the Corresponding Author and the Journal editors.
Sponsorship
Authorship entails both accountability and independence. A submitted manuscript is the intellectual property of its authors, not the study’s sponsor (e.g., a pharmaceutical company or contract research organization). The Journal will not review or publish articles based on studies that are conducted under conditions that allow the sponsor to have sole control of the data or to withhold publication. We encourage investigators to use the revised International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requirements on publication ethics to guide the negotiation of research contracts. Those contracts should give the researchers a substantial say in trial design, access to the raw data, responsibility for data analysis and interpretation, and the right to publish; these are the hallmarks of scholarly independence and, ultimately, academic freedom. By enforcing adherence to these requirements, we can as editors endeavor to assure our readers that the authors of an article have had a meaningful and truly independent role in the study that bears their names. The authors, therefore, will stand behind the published results, and so can the Journal. [Adapted from ICMJE, www.icmje.org/update_sponsor.html.]
The Oncologist adheres to the guidelines on authorship established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) statement on Authorship and Contribution available at www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html. Based on these guidelines, the Journal encourages an honest account of what took place.
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Medical Writer Questions
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1a
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Did the medical writer meet all three criteria for authorship, as specified by the ICMJE? If so, the medical writer should be designated as an author.
- Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data
- Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and
- Final approval of the version to be published
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1b
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If not, has the medical writer been identified in the acknowledgments, including his or her degree(s), academic or business affiliation, and specific contributions made?
Please specify contributions:
- Copyediting, e.g., grammatical assistance, stylistic suggestions to outline or draft
- Editorial assistance, e.g., preparing references, fact-checking, labeling illustrations or tables
- Production assistance, e.g., assembling tables, graphs, figures, photos or other illustrations
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2
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Have the type and source of funding (e.g., financial or grant support) for the medical writer’s services been identified in the acknowledgments?
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3
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Can the medical writer confirm that the manuscript was prepared in accordance with international guidelines for ethical medical writing (e.g., Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals; Good Publication Practice for Pharmaceutical Companies; Position Statements from the European or American Medical Writers Associations or the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals)?
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4
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Did the author(s) make the final decision on the main points to be communicated in the manuscript, particularly in the conclusion?
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5
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Did the author(s) make the final decision on the primary and secondary outcomes and relevant data to be reported in the manuscript?
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The Corresponding Author must complete and submit the following forms online at http://manuscriptsubmissions.theoncologist.com
Author Contribution Form
The Corresponding Author must submit the Author Contribution Form on behalf of every author. The Corresponding Author must have obtained permission from all authors for the submission of each version of the paper and for any change in authorship. Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. The nature of the contribution of every author should be made clear. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Contributors who do not meet sufficient criteria for authorship should instead be noted in an Acknowledgments section.
If an article has been substantially written by a contracted writer different from those whose names appear at the beginning of the article, this fact needs to be acknowledged on the Author Contribution Form. All authors, including contracted authors (medical writers), must submit a Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (as described below).
In addition, when a medical writer has contributed to a manuscript, the following table must be completed online during the submission process:
The Oncologist does not consider submissions from authors whose work was supported by tobacco funding.
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