Ben Goldacre's suggestion that authors should take more responsibility for press releases relating to their publications is an excellent one. In fact, this is mentioned in the International Standards for Authors developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity (and available at http://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for... ). Clause 8.4 of these guidelines states that ‘Authors and their institutions should liaise and cooperate with publishers to coordinate media activity (e.g. press releases and press conferences) around publication. Press releases should accurately reflect the work and should not include statements that go further than the research findings.’
We encourage journals to draw authors’ attention to these guidelines by linking to them from their Instructions or adapting them for their journal.
Competing interests:
I am an author of the guidelines I mention
Rapid Response:
Re: Research press releases need better policing
Ben Goldacre's suggestion that authors should take more responsibility for press releases relating to their publications is an excellent one. In fact, this is mentioned in the International Standards for Authors developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity (and available at http://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for... ). Clause 8.4 of these guidelines states that ‘Authors and their institutions should liaise and cooperate with publishers to coordinate media activity (e.g. press releases and press conferences) around publication. Press releases should accurately reflect the work and should not include statements that go further than the research findings.’
We encourage journals to draw authors’ attention to these guidelines by linking to them from their Instructions or adapting them for their journal.
Competing interests: I am an author of the guidelines I mention