Editorial

191Urology Journal    Vol 4    No 4    Autumn 2007

Editorial Independence
Surrounding Controversies

Urol J. 2007;4:191. 
www.uj.unrc.ir

The World Association of  Medical Editors defines editorial 
independence as: full control over the editorial 
content of  the journal, regardless of  conflicts with the 
commercial success of  the publication or the owners’ 
interests.(1) Fortunately, our Editorial Advisory Board 
recently met to discuss this issue. Separation of  the 
editorial decisions from financial issues is essential 
to ensure editorial independence. There are outright 
threats to continued editorial independence. We reaffirm 
the core value of  editorial freedom. The Committee on 
Publication Ethics has published a draft code of  conduct 
for medical editors proposing a framework in detail for 
the relationship between the journal editors and the 
owners.(2) The role of  the editors is to ensure accuracy of  
the material published for which they have to rely on the 
authors as well as an efficient review process. Authors 
should submit the ethical clearance or approval by the 
ethics committee for any research work. However, the 
editor is still responsible for checking out if  there is any 
unethical work submitted for publication. 

The controversy surrounding most of  journals appears 
to focus on whether the associations which are the 
owners of  a journal can offer complete independence to 
its editors. For instance, one decisive issue is advertising; 
policy and practices with respect to advertising and 
sponsorship must be clear. To date, no systematic review 
has been done to evaluate the level of  separation of  
advertising and editorial decisions.(3) Editorial decisions 
should not be influenced by advertising or sponsorship, 
being made without consideration of  the advertising or 
sponsorship scheduled to appear. We emphasize that 
separation of  editorial decisions from financial issues is 
essential to ensure editorial independence.

The other issue that must be dealt with by the editor is 
scientific misconduct. Obviously, the goal of  a scientific 
journal, searching for scientific truths, should not 
be confused with those of  the public press. Usually, 
editors are the first to detect any possible misconduct 
by all the people involved in the course of  publication 
of  any article. While they protect the confidentiality 
of  unconfirmed cases, they have the duty to scrutinize, 
inform the authors, and ask for explanation. On the 
other hand, all reasonable critical responses to any 
published material should be published in the form of  a 

“Letter to Editor,” unless the editors have a convincing 
reason for not doing so.

In our journal’s policy, complying with the guidelines 
of  the International Committee of  Medical Journal Editors(4) 
has been adopted, in which the definition of  editorial 
freedom by the World Association of  Medical Editors has 
been considered(1): 

Editors-in-Chief  and the owners of  their journals both want 
the journals to succeed but they have different roles. The editors-
in-chief ’s primary responsibilities are to inform and educate 
readers, with attention to the accuracy and importance of  journal 
articles, and to protect and strengthen the integrity and quality 
of  the journal and its processes. Owners (whether professional 
associations or for-profit companies) support the core values and 
policies of  their organization and are ultimately responsible for all 
aspects of  publishing the journal, including its staff, budget, and 
business policies. The relationship between owners and editors-in-
chief  should be based on mutual respect and trust, and recognition 
of  each other’s authority and responsibilities. Conflicts can damage 
both the intellectual integrity and reputation of  the journal and its 
financial success.

Thus, the Editor-in-Chief  will take full responsibility for 
editorial content and failure to autonomously scrutinize 
and investigate any possible misconduct corresponds to 
a shortcoming on the editor’s part.

Mohammad Reza Safarinejad 
Associate Editor, Urology Journal

REFERENCES
1. World Association of Medical Editors [homepage on 

the Internet]. WAME Policy Statements [cited 2007 Oct 
1]. Available from: http://www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm

2. Committee on Publication Ethics [homepage on the 
Internet]. Guidelines on good publication practice 
[cited 2007 Oct 1]. Available from: http://www. 
publicationethics.org.uk/reports/1999/index_html 

3. MacDonald N, Downie J. Editorial policy: industry 
funding and editorial independence. CMAJ. 
2006;174:1817.

4. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors 
[homepage on the Internet]. Uniform requirements for 
manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: writing 
and editing for biomedical publication [cited 2007 
Oct 1]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org