





































 V38 N2 / 2023 

©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     5

ABSTRACT 
This year marks the 20-year anniversary of the Good 
Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines, a set of principles 
and recommendations pertaining to peer-reviewed or peer-
orientated publications arising from research funded by or 
conducted in collaboration with industry sponsors. Since 
the publication in the initial GPP guidelines in 2003, GPP 
guidelines have undergone several updates, with the latest 
iteration (GPP 2022 update) published in August 2022. The 
latest GPP guidelines built upon prior work and continue 
to strengthen principles and refine practices to reflect a 
rapidly evolving field of biomedical publishing. This article 
summarizes what is new in the latest GPP update and 
provide a quick document tour to help readers navigate 
the GPP 2022 document. In addition, a section from the 
perspective from medical writers and editors provides a 
preview of principles and practical guidance relevant to our 
day-to-day work. It is expected that further dissemination 
and discussion of the latest GPP 2022 update will continue 
to take place among publication professionals, medical 
writers, authors, journal editors and publishers, and other 
stakeholders, who share common goals of transparency, 
accountability, and quality of publications arising from 
company-sponsored biomedical research. 

The Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines are a set 
of principles and recommendations pertaining to peer-re-
viewed or peer-orientated publications arising from 
research funded by or conducted in collaboration with 
industry sponsors, typically pharmaceutical, biotechnology, 
and medical device companies.
 This year marks the 20-year anniversary of the first GPP 
guidelines that were published in 2003.1 These initial GPP 
guidelines were developed to promote transparency and to 
establish standards for publication practice used by phar-
maceutical companies. Since then, GPP guidelines have 
undergone several updates to reflect changes within the pub-
lication field and to provide additional practical guidance 
on publication processes and procedures. These updates 

include the GPP22 published in 2009 and the GPP33 pub-
lished in 2013. Good Practice for Conference Abstracts and 
Presentations (GPCAP)4 was published in 2019 to provide 
guidance specifically for congress abstract and presenta-
tions. The latest update of the GPP guidelines, the GPP 2022 
update, was published in August 2022.5 To facilitate better 
tracking of updates, the current and future GPP updates will 
carry the date of the update (instead of a version number). 
Table 1 summarizes GPP iterations published to date; all 
GPP guidelines are free to access by the public.

An Overview of the 2022 Update of Good Publication Practice (GPP) 
Guidelines: A Medical Writer’s Perspective
Qing Zhou, PhD, ELS  /  Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, NY

THEME ARTICLE

Table 1. GPP Iterations

GPP Iteration
Year of 
Publication Citation

GPP 2022 2022 DeTora LM, Toroser D, Sykes A, et 
al. Good publication practice (GPP) 
guidelines for company-sponsored 
biomedical research: 2022 update. 
Ann Intern Med. 2022;175(9):1298-
1304. https://doi.org/10.7326/m22-
1460

GPCAP 2019 Foster C, Wager E, Marchington J, et 
al. Good practice for conference ab-
stracts and presentations: GPCAP. Res 
Integr Peer Rev. 2019;4:11. https://doi.
org/10.1186/s41073-019-0070-x

GPP3 2015 Battisti WP, Wager E, Baltzer L, et 
al. Good publication practice for 
communicating company-sponsored 
medical research: GPP3. Ann Intern 
Med. 2015;163(6):461-464. https://
doi.org/10.7326/m15-028

GPP2 2009 Graf C, Battisti WP, Bridges D, et 
al. Good publication practice for 
communicating company-sponsored 
medical research: the GPP2 guidelines. 
BMJ. 2009;339:b4330. https://doi.
org/10.1136/bmj.b4330

Original GPP 2003 Wager E, Field EA, Grossman L. Good 
publication practice for pharmaceu-
tical companies. Curr Med Res Opin. 
2003;19(3):149-154.  
https://doi.org/10.1185/ 
030079903125001767

GPCAP, Good Practice for Conference Abstracts and Presentations; GPP, Good 
Publication Practice.

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-1460
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-1460
https://researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41073-019-0070-x
https://researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41073-019-0070-x
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M15-0288
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M15-0288
https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4330
https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4330
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1185/030079903125001767
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1185/030079903125001767


AMWAJournal.org     6Overview of the 2022 Update of GPP Guidelines

 One may wonder about the process for developing the 
GPP guidelines. As described in the Methods sections of 
the GPP guidelines (GPP2 and onward),2-3,5 with support 
from the International Society for Medical Publication 
Professionals (ISMPP), a steering committee was invited 
and formed, then members of the steering committee  
wrote the guidelines and managed review of the drafts by 
selected expert reviewers or a wider range of volunteers.  
The steering committees (typically also serving as the 
author groups) have consisted of experienced profession-
als representing various constituencies involved in publish-
ing company-sponsored biomedical research. For example, 
in the latest GPP 2022 update, the author group represents 
different geographic regions (Asia, Europe, and North 
America) and includes members from pharmaceutical, bio-
technology and device companies, medical communica-
tion agencies, journal editors and publishers, and academic 
institutions.
 It is worth noting that GPP guidelines identify best prac-
tices based on a wide range of existing guidelines. These 
include broader guidance on scholarly publishing by the 
International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE),6 
various reporting standards such as CONSORT7 and guide-
lines collected by the EQUATOR Network,8 as well as eth-
ical principles maintained by professional organizations 
such as American Medical Writers Association (AMWA),9 
the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA),10 the 
ISMPP,11 the Council of Science Editors,12 and the World 
Association of Medical Editors,13 to name a few.
 GPP guidelines are intended to be a living document 
that reflects current practice and will be subject to revisions 
as the field changes and expands. The sections below sum-
marize what is new in the latest GPP update and provide a 
quick document tour to help readers navigate the GPP 2022 
document.

WHAT IS NEW IN THE GPP 2022 UPDATE
Many principles of prior GPP guidelines remain. The GPP 
2022 update5 reflects the changes in the publication field as 
well as the expanding role of the publication professionals. 
The updated guidelines strengthen the core values of GPP 
such as ethics, transparency, inclusivity, accountability, and 
responsibility. The GPP 2022 update also includes a signifi-
cantly expanded and reorganized supplement document, 
intended to provide more detailed guidance on day-to-
day work in various process steps of publication planning, 
development, review, and approval.
 Below is an overview of themes of changes and addi-
tions in the GPP 2022 update since the previous iteration 
(GPP3).3 For a detailed list of changes, the readers can refer 
to the table in the main body of the GPP 2022 update.

•  Principles of GPP were augmented and  
strengthened.
 GPP principles incorporate updated references 

to key ethical documents, such as ICMJE recom-
mendations and the Declaration of Helsinki. The 
AMWA-EMWA-ISMPP joint statement on the role of 
professional medical writers was also cited.

 Updated “Ethical Principles” include a total of 23 
principles (compared with 10 principles in GPP3), 
divided into 5 areas:
– General principles for ethics and good publica-

tion practice.
– Principles for protecting research and data  

integrity.
–  Principles to promote transparency.
–  Principles to support inclusivity.
–  Principles for authorship, contributorship, and 

accountability.
 “Practical Planning Principles” were added to 

describe principles guiding practical aspects of work 
processes.

•  New topics were included to reflect changes and 
advances in the publication field.
 GPP 2022 specifies a wider scope of research (eg, 

translational and biomarker studies, nonclinical 
research, health economics, real-world evidence, 
and outcomes research) and reflects advances of in 
biomedical publishing (eg, enhanced content, plain 
language summaries, preprints, and social media 
posting about peer-reviewed publications).

 Guidance is given regarding plain language summa-
ries and enhanced content.

 GPP 2022 recommends inclusivity in publication 
activities (eg, cultural differences and region-spe-
cific needs) and in people and teams involved in 
publications (eg, the composition of steering com-
mittees, author groups, and publication teams).

 The guidelines also address the potential role of 
patients in publication activities.

•  The supplement was significantly expanded and  
reorganized.
 In GPP 2022, the supplement was significantly 

expanded and reorganized to provide more detailed 
guidance on various publication process steps in a 
logical order (see the next section for more details).

HOW TO NAVIGATE THE GPP 2022 UPDATE – A 
QUICK TOUR OF THE DOCUMENT
The overall format of the GPP 2022 update5 is similar to that 
of GPP3;3 main principles are presented in the main body, 
and more detailed guidance and recommendations are 

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AMWAJournal.org     7Overview of the 2022 Update of GPP Guidelines

summarized in the supplement. The updated document, 
especially the supplement, contains a large amount of 
information. It may be hard to read the entire document 
in one sitting or to remember all the details. The sum-
mary below provides a quick tour of the document that 
may help readers to get familiar with the structure of 
GPP 2022 so they may locate relevant information  
more easily.

• Main body
 “Ethical Principles” and “Practical Planning 

Principles” are presented.
 The main body also includes methods used for 

developing GPP 2022, the scope and format of 
GPP, how to use GPP, as well as conclusions and 
future directions.

 A detailed table summarizes key changes and 
additions since the previous iteration.

 Specific sections in the supplement are called 
out in GPP principles in the main body to aid in 
quick cross referencing.

• Supplement
 The expanded and reorganized supplement 

provides detailed guidance on various process 
steps, organized in sections A-I (summarized in 
Table 2).

 Each section of the supplement may be used as 
a standalone document to help explain the pro-
cess and best practices to publication stakehold-
ers. The overall supplement can be used as a tool 
for publication team education and for guiding 
the development of publication policies and 
procedures at certain organizations.

A PERSPECTIVE FROM MEDICAL WRITERS 
AND EDITORS
Many medical writers and editors, whether employed by 
company sponsors, by medical communication agen-
cies or contract research organizations, or are self-em-
ployed, are involved in the development of publications 
of company-sponsored biomedical research. Medical 
writers, with professional expertise in scientific com-
munication and in ethical publication principles, assist 
authors and sponsors to disclose and communicate 
research findings in an ethical, accurate, and timely 
manner.
 Following on from GPP3,3 GPP 20225 continues to 
emphasize the professional roles of medical writers. 
A notable update is that under “General Principles for 
Ethics and Good Publication Practice” in the main body 
text, it was made clear that medical writers should be 
treated ethically and enabled to follow ethical practice.

Table 2. Summary of Supplement Sections A-I in the GPP 2022 Update5

Section Topic
Content (Section Headings, Titles 
of  Supplement Tables and Figures)

A Publication 
Types

- Primary and secondary publications
- Reviews and meta-analyses
- Scientific conferenced presentations
- Other publication types
- Enhanced content and plain lanuage

summaries

B Publication 
Professional 
Roles and 
Professional 
Development

- Professional roles
- Professional development
- Sharing best practices
- Developing publications policies and 

procedures
- Supplement Table 1. Team education: 

essential events and timing for clinical 
research publications

C Ethical Princi-
ples: Additional 
Detail

- Commitment to peer-reviewed
publications

- Publications as scientific exchange
- Special considerations for communicating

with the public
- Additional significant considerations

D Publication 
Steering 
Committees

- Responsibilities
- Formation and ending
- Membership
- Charter
- Meetings and communication
- Supplement Figure 1. Suggested life cycle

of a publicaiton steering committee

E Publication 
Plans

- Principles
- Review and approval of publication plans
- Supplement Table 2. Principles for 

publication plans
- Supplement Table 3. Special consider-

ations for the publication plan
F Publication 

Working 
Groups

- Responsibilities
- Initiation
- Membership
- Meetings and communication
- Ending

G Authorship and 
Contributorship 
Determination

- Principles
- Author agreements
- Additional considerations
- Process
- Supplement Table 4. Suggested author 

agreement contents
H Publication 

Process
- Journal and conference selection
- Data sharing
- Working with professional medical writers
- Publication kick off
- Publication draft
- Review and approval
- Acknowledgment, disclosures, and author 

statements
- Journal submission, peer review, and page

proofs
- Post publication activities
- Supplement Table 6. Relevant criteria for 

journal and conference selection
- Supplement Figure 2. Overview of the 

publication process

I Documentation 
Guidelines

- Guidelines

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AMWAJournal.org     8Overview of the 2022 Update of GPP Guidelines

 In the GPP 2022 supplement, medical writers can 
also find relevant practical guidance on day-to-day work 
in several sections, including Section B “Publication 
Professional Roles and Professional Development,” 
Section D “Publication Steering Committees,” Section 
F “Publication Working Groups,” Section G “Authorship 
and Contributorship Determination,” and Section H 
“Publication Process.”5

 Below are just a few examples of practical guidance rele-
vant to medical writers:

• Roles of medical writers, along with roles of authors, 
other contributors, and reviewers, should be defined 
prospectively (Supplement Section D), and the 
employment of professional writing support should be 
agreed by authors (Supplement Section G).

• Medical writers, as with all publication contributors, 
qualify as authors if they meet authorship criteria 
(Supplement Section G).

• Medical writers should work under author direction.
• Medical writers should attend relevant meetings such 

as kick off or data dissemination meetings so they can 
capture authors’ views and directions (Supplement 
Sections F, H).

• If they are not a byline author, a medical writer should 
not be asked to perform final data integrity check 
(Supplement Sections F, H) to help ensure adherence 
to ICMJE authorship criteria.

• Medical writing support needs to be disclosed. 
Typically, the writer’s name, professional qualifica-
tions, affiliation, and funding source are disclosed at a 
minimum, along with any other information required 
by the journal or conference (Supplement Section H).

• Medical writers should engage in professional devel-
opment and in sharing best practices (Supplement 
Section B).

 Medical writers are highly encouraged to keep GPP 
guidelines on hand as a key reference and to consult them 
when questions or uncertainties arise at work. Even if one 
may not find the exact answers for every work situation, the 
principles and processes described in the GPP guidelines 
may provide an approach for developing solutions.
 Medical editors often work closely with medical writ-
ers to ensure that the publications are clear and concise, 
with a format and style suitable for the target audience, and 
meeting requirements by the journals, publishers, and sci-
entific conferences. Editors are often knowledgeable on 
topics related to journals and publishers (eg, journal styles, 
copyright requirements, and predatory publishing). Their 
insights into language use can help make enhanced content 
and plain language summaries more effective for different 

audiences. For medical editors and those who work with 
medical editors, the detailed publication process described 
in the latest GPP guidelines can help identify where an edi-
tor’s insights and input are needed.
 For medical writers and editors, besides reading the 
published GPP document, there are other resources to learn 
about the latest GPP guidelines. For example, the ISMPP 
held an ISMPP U webinar “Introducing GPP 2022” on 
September 21, 2022,14 and the EMWA held a webinar “Good 
Publication Practice 2022: Focus on Medical Writing” on 
March 8, 2023.15 There are likely more discussions at various 
professional organizations on the latest GPP guidelines.

CONCLUSION
Since the publication in the initial GPP guidelines 20 years 
ago, GPP guidelines have undergone several updates, with 
the latest iteration (GPP 2022 update) published in August 
2022.5 Over the years, GPP guidelines have become a cor-
nerstone of principles and standards for publications of 
company-sponsored biomedical research. The latest GPP 
guidelines built upon prior work and continue to strengthen 
principles and refine practices to reflect a rapidly evolving 
field of biomedical publishing.
 Disseminating the newest GPP guidelines and incorpo-
rating them into day-to-day work requires continuous effort. 
It is expected that further dissemination and discussion 
of the latest GPP 2022 update will continue to take place 
among publication professionals, medical writers, authors, 
journal editors and publishers, and other stakeholders, who 
share common goals of transparency, accountability, and 
quality of publications arising from company-sponsored 
biomedical research.

Acknowledgments
The author thanks Lisa M. DeTora, PhD, MS, Dikran Toroser, 
PhD, and Zoë Preston, MPhil, for providing critical review of 
this manuscript.

Author declaration and disclosures: The author notes no  
commercial conflict of interest in relation to this article. The 
views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the 
author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s 
employer.

Author contact: qzhou.writer@gmail.com

References
1. Wager E, Field EA, Grossman L. Good publication practice for 

pharmaceutical companies. Curr Med Res Opin. 2003;19(3):149-154.
2. Graf C, Battisti WP, Bridges D, et al. Research methods & reporting. 

Good publication practice for communicating company sponsored 
medical research: the GPP2 guidelines. BMJ. 2009;339:b4330.

http://www.amwajournal.org


AMWAJournal.org     9Overview of the 2022 Update of GPP Guidelines

3.  Battisti WP, Wager E, Baltzer L, et al. Good publication practice 
for communicating company-sponsored medical research: GPP3. 
Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(6):461-464.

4.  Foster C, Wager E, Marchington J, et al. Good practice for 
conference abstracts and presentations: GPCAP. Res Integr Peer 
Rev. 2019;4:11.

5.  DeTora LM, Toroser D, Sykes A, et al. Good publication practice 
(GPP) guidelines for company-sponsored biomedical research: 
2022 update. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175(9):1298-1304.

6.  International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 
Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and 
publication of scholarly work in medical journals. ICMJE. 
Updated May 2022. Accessed February 26, 2023. www.icmje.org/
recommendations.

7.  Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D; CONSORT Group. CONSORT 
2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group 
randomized trials. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(11):726-732.

8.  EQUATOR Network. Accessed February 26, 2023. www.equator-
network.org.

9.  American Medical Writers Association website. Accessed 
February 26, 2023. www.amwa.org.

10. European Medical Writers Association. Accessed February 26, 
2023. www.emwa.org.

11. The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals. 
Accessed February 26, 2023. www.ismpp.org.

12. Council of Science Editors. Accessed February 26, 2023. www.
councilscienceeditors.org.

13. World Association of Medical Editors. Accessed February 26, 2023. 
www.wame.org.

14. DeTora LM, Dormer L, DiBlasi F, Plunkett F. ISMPP U - 
introducing GPP 2022. International Society for Medical 
Publication Professionals webinar. September 21, 2022. 
Accessed February 26, 2023. https://www.pathlms.com/ismpp/
courses/37863/webinars/31490

15. DeTora LM, Plunkett F, Preston Z. Good Publication Practice 2022: 
focus on medical writing. EMWA webinar. March 8, 2023. https://
www.emwa.org/education/emwa-webinars-programme-2023/

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