Publishing clinical trials ethics

Clearly, other chapters in this book could have appeared in this section. An early chapter in this book is on informed consent its location is designed to indicate the supervening importance of that particular application of autonomy, beneficence and equipoise. Ethical behavior is also at the very centre of good clinical practices . The chapter on publishing clinical trials also examines some of the ethical aspects of that activity. Dr Belsey also enters into this area with his chapter on advertising and marketing . 

This chapter has three objectives. First, it is necessary to discuss the ethics and desirability of publishing clinical trials, and the biases that may be involved with that process. Second, junior pharmaceutical physicians may benefit from some discussion of classic parts of an orthodox clinical trial report in a peer-reviewed journal, and some clues for effective oral presentations. Third, alternative forms of publication are discussed, including isolated abstracts and posters, electronic publication and press releases. The scope of this chapter is strictly formal publications regulatory documents (which are typically not published and are a different form of clinical trials reporting) and marketing materials are dealt with elsewhere. A summary and prospectus closes this chapter. 

There are many pediatric medical, nursing, and pharmacy journals that include articles on pediatric drug therapies (Table 2). Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Journal of Pediatrics are considered by most pediatric practitioners to be the top in the field. Pediatrics is of particular use to clinicians because it includes the policy statements developed by the AAP. These statements are considered to represent standards of practice by pediatricians. Many of these statements are also of interest to clinical pharmacists, such as the yearly schedule for routine childhood immunizations. Other AAP policy statements of note include recommendations on the administration of medications during breastfeeding, the ethical treatment of children enrolled in clinical research trials,and methods to reduce medication errors in the pediatric inpatient setting. The Journal of Pediatrics has also published useful practice recommendations, such as the guidelines for antithrombotic therapy.The pediatric journal for the American Medical Association, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, often contains large-scale sur-... 

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