Joint Position Statement on Medical Publications, Preprints, and Peer Review

The AMWA-EMWA-ISMPP Position Statement on Medical Publications, Preprints, and Peer Review, published in Current Medical Research and Opinion (CMRO), provides recommendations that aim to protect the integrity of published scientific and medical research.

The statement warns that the public could lose trust in science if scientific and medical researchers choose to bypass the traditional high standards of peer-reviewed medical journals in the rush to get research data released, particularly during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Medical communicators, including writers, editors, and those involved in quality control, play a critical role in ensuring that clinical and scientific data are published and disseminated in an accurate and clear manner. In the current rush-to-publish environment, all stakeholders in the scientific and clinical research communities and press must ensure that the public have correct and actionable information from which to make health and medical decisions,” explained Gail Flores, PhD, President of AMWA.

In particular, the statement highlights the impact of preprints – preliminary scientific reports that are made publicly available online for anyone to read and discuss before they have been peer reviewed. While preprints enable rapid release and discussion of data, many are never revised or corrected, and only about a third-to-a half are ever fully published. This can also occur with articles submitted for post-publication peer review, in which an article is published in its original form, before expert peer reviewers are invited to critique it.

The statement recognizes the benefit of rapid publication, but alerts against the potential harms associated with an accelerated process. In seeking a resolution, the three organizations present recommendations and a Reviewers’ Checklist to provide a minimum standard of pre-publication vetting to enhance preprint publication processes.

Read this Joint Position Statement in CMRO. Find other AMWA position statements at www.amwa.org/position_statement.