Skip to main content
Log in

The role of ethical publishing in promoting the evidence-based practice of urology

  • Topic Paper
  • Published:
World Journal of Urology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

An evidence-based approach to the practice of urology relies on the accumulation of a body of evidence from clinical research. Ethical publishing has a major role to play in building confidence in the compiled evidence, which can lead to the development of clinical practice guidelines and new treatment paradigms.

Methods

The literature on the recent developments in ethical publishing was reviewed to highlight how this supported the promotion of the evidence-based practice of urology.

Conclusion

The requirements for complete and transparent reporting of results, the honest and full declaration of conflicts of interest, and the correct assignment of authorship are essential to build up confidence in the evidence-based practice of urology. Increasing the quality of the reporting of trials allows the evidence base to be scrutinized and validated. Reporting the experience and expertise of authors in compiling, analysing and interpreting evidence also helps to develop this trust. A great deal of progress has been made in the recent years, but there is a lot more work to be done.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Claridge JA, Fabian TC (2005) History and development of evidence-based medicine. World J Surg 29:547–553

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Evidence-based Medicine Working Group (1992) Evidence-based medicine. A new approach to teaching the practice of medicine. JAMA 268:2420–2425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Herr HW (2009) Civiale, stones and statistics: the dawn of evidence-based medicine. BJUI 104:300–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Schulz KF, Chalmers I, Grimes DA, Altman DG (1994) Assessing the quality of randomization from reports of controlled trials published in obstetrics and gynecology journals. JAMA 272:125–128

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pocock SJ, Hughes MD, Lee RJ (1987) Statistical problems in the reporting of clinical trials. A survey of three medical journals. N Engl J Med 317:426–432

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Altman DG, Doré CJ (1990) Randomisation and baseline comparisons in clinical trials. Lancet 335:149–153

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Breau RH, Gaboury I, Scales CD Jr, Fesperman SF, Watterson JD, Dahm P (2010) Reporting of harm in randomized controlled trials published in the urological literaure. J Urol 183(5):1693–1697

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Tseng TY, Stoffs TL, Dahm P (2010) Evidence-based urology in practice: publication bias. BJUI 106:318–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hopewell S, Loudon K, Clarke MJ, Oxman AD, Dickersin K (2009) Publication bias in clinical trials due to statistical significance or direction of trial results. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1. Art. No.: MR000006. doi: 10.1002/14651858.MR000006.pub3

  10. Graf C, Battisti WP, Bridges D et al (2009) Good publication practice for communicating company sponsored medical research: the GPP2 guidelines. BMJ 339:b4330

    Google Scholar 

  11. Singapore Statement on Research Integrity (2011) http://www.singaporestatement.org/index.html. Accessed on 2 Feb 2011

  12. Wager E, Fiack S, Graf C, Robinson A, Rowlands I (2009) Science journal editors’ views on publication ethics: results of an international survey. J Med Ethics 35:348–353

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Graf C, Wager E, Bowman A, Fiack S, Scott-Lichter D, Robinson A (2007) Best practice guidelines on publication ethics: a publisher’s perspective. Int J Clin Pract Suppl 152:1–26

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. CONSORT website (2010) http://www.consort-statement.org. Accessed on 6 Nov 2010

  15. EQUATOR website (2010) http://www.equator-network.org. Accessed on 6 Nov 2010

  16. Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D, on behalf of the CONSORT Group (2010) CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomized trials. BMC Med 8:18

    Google Scholar 

  17. Scales CD Jr, Norris RD, Keitz SA, Peterson BL, Preminger GM, Vieweg J, Dahm P (2007) A critical assessment of the quality of reporting of randomized, controlled trials in the urology literature. J Urol 177(3):1090–1094 (discussion 1094–1095)

    Google Scholar 

  18. ICMJE (2010) Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. http://www.icmje.org. Accessed on 6 Nov 2010

  19. Fletcher R, Ferris L and the WAME Publication Ethics and Editorial Policy Committees (2009) Policy statement: conflict of interest in peer-reviewed medical journals, July 25 2009, http://www.wame.org. Accessed on 6 Nov 2010

  20. Friedman LS, Richter ED (2004) Relationship between conflicts of interest and research results. J Gen Intern Med 19:51–56

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Blum JA, Freeman K, Dart RC, Cooper RJ (2009) Requirements and definitions in conflict of interest policies of medical journals. JAMA 302:2230–2234

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Krimsky S, Rothenberg LS (2001) Conflict of interest policies in science and medical journals: editorial practices and author disclosures. Sci Eng Ethics 7:205–218

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Drazen JM, Van Der Weyden MB, Sahni P et al (2009) Uniform format for disclosure of competing interests in ICMJE journals [published online ahead of print October 13, 2009]. JAMA doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.1542

  24. http://www.crossref.org/. Accessed 29 Oct 2010

  25. Tramèer MR, Reynolds DJM, Moore RA, McQuay HJ (1997) Impact of covert duplicate publication on meta-analysis: a case study. BMJ 315:635–640

    Google Scholar 

  26. Errami M, Garner H (2008) A tale of two citations. Nature 451:397–399

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. http://etest.vbi.vt.edu/etblast3/. Accessed 2 Feb 2011

  28. http://creativecommons.org/. Accessed 29 Oct 2010

  29. http://www.facebook.com/publicationethics. Accessed 6 Nov 2010

  30. http://publicationethics.org/. Accessed 29 Oct 2010

Download references

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John M. Fitzpatrick.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sharrock, G., Graf, C. & Fitzpatrick, J.M. The role of ethical publishing in promoting the evidence-based practice of urology. World J Urol 29, 319–324 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-011-0661-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-011-0661-8

Keywords

Navigation