Journals should drive data reproducibility

Should Language Matter Less to Journals?

Erik von Elm PLoS Medicine now encourages translations in languages other than English; this decision can only be welcomed. German-speaking readers are pleased by the novelty of a PLoS title written in their language. The Editorial starts with the fi rst line of the well-known German poem “Lorelei” by Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) [1]. This year commemorates the 150th anniversary of his death. Ori...

Doctors should not evaluate competence to drive.

Journals should lead the way in improving medical press releases.

News stories about medical research influence patients’ beliefs, behaviours and use of healthcare services. Yet the quality of news coverage of medical studies is often poor. 3 Many news stories about medical research exaggerate the clinical significance of the findings, fail to report potential harms of new interventions or overlook important study limitations. While it is tempting to blame jo...

Correction: Advertising in Medical Journals: Should Current Practices Change?

P eer-reviewed medical journals are generally considered to be a source of unbiased and reliable information about drugs. But at the same time, most medical journals contain advertisements, almost all of which are for drugs, and which are, by their very nature, biased toward promoting sales of that drug. In this article, we address the purpose and effects of journal advertising, the possible re...

Manuscript Submission Invitations from ‘Predatory Journals’: What Should Authors Do?

Press freedom and worldwide internet access have opened ample opportunity for a staggering number of poor open access journals and junk publishers to emerge. Dubious publishers are abusing and camouflaging the golden open access model. In 2012, Jeffery Beall shed light on the predatory journals (as he preferred to call them) and the threat to open access scientific publication. Publishing in pr...