Ethical guidelines authors

The principles that govern the ethics of scientific publication are no different than for any other endeavor complete and accurate reporting and appropriate attribution to the contributions of others. However, as always, the devil is in the details. The ethical responsibilities of authors and reviewers are sufficiently important and complex that the editors of the American Chemical Society journals have developed a detailed document outlining these responsibilities. (This document, Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research is presented in Appendix 1-1.) The purpose of this chapter is not to duplicate this document, but rather to discuss some of the important underlying principles and situations that often arise. 

With these thoughts in mind, the editors of journals published by the American Chemical Society now present a set of ethical guidelines for persons engaged in the publication of chemical research, specifically, for editors, authors, and manuscript reviewers. These guidelines are offered not in the sense that there is any immediate crisis in ethical behavior, but rather from a conviction that the observance of high ethical standards is so vital to the whole scientific enterprise that a definition of those standards should be brought to the attention of all concerned. 

It is usually the Committee for Drug Information of the LMI (Norwegian Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers) that supervises promotional activities and may impose fines on pharmaceutical companies in cases of breach of ethical rules and guidelines. The fines may be in the order of NOK5000-300 000 The Committee is authorised to make decisions only in cases where the defendant is a member of the LMI or has approved the industry s ethical guidelines. This is the case for the vast majority of companies responsible for the sale of pharmaceutical products in Norway, and in practice the Committee is an important authority. 

Papers submitted to ACS books and journals are considered for publication with the understanding that they have not been published or accepted for publication elsewhere and are not currently under consideration elsewhere. Appendix III, Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research, presents ACS s guidelines for editors, authors, and reviewers. 

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