Conflict of interest policies in science and medical journals: Editorial practices and author disclosures

This study examines the extent to which scientific and biomedical journals have adopted conflict of interest (COI) policies for authors, and whether the adoption and content of such policies leads to the publishing of authors’ financial interest disclosure statements by such journals. In particular, it reports the results of a survey of journal editors about their practices regarding COI disclosures. About 16 percent of 1396 highly ranked scientific and biomedical journals had COI policies in effect during 1997. Less than 1 percent of the articles published during that year in the journals with COI policies contained any disclosures of author personal financial interests while nearly 66 percent of the journals had zero disclosures of author personal financial interests. Nearly three fourths of journal editors surveyed usually publish author disclosure statements suggesting that low rates of personal financial disclosures are either a result of low rates of author financial interest in the subject matter of their publications or poor compliance by authors to the journals’ COI policies.     

Using Disguised Clinical Case Material

When, why, and how clinicians decide to write about clients are ethical concerns. There are risks and potential clinical ramifications as well as responsibilities for how these decisions are made. On the basis of 141 interviews with psychoanalysts who have published in 3 major national and international psychoanalytic journals, the author explores decisions about whether to only disguise the client's material or whether, in addition, to ask consent outlines and some of the clinical consequences. The author concludes that clinicians need to individualize their decision making based on the particular client and the nature of the therapeutic relationship and offers ways to go about making these judgments.     

Financial interests of authors in scientific journals: A pilot study of 14 publications

Disclosure of financial interests in scientific research is the centerpiece of the new conflict of interest regulations issued by the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation that became effective October 1, 1995. Several scientific journals have also established financial disclosure requirements for contributors. This paper measures the frequency of selected financial interests held among authors of certain types of scientific publications and assesses disclosure practices of authors. We examined 1105 university authors (first and last cited) from Massachusetts institutions whose 789 articles, published in 1992, appeared in 14 scientific and medical journals. Authors are said to “possess a financial interest” if they are listed as inventors in a patent or patent application closely related to their published work; serve on a scientific advisory board of a biotechnology company; or are officers, directors, or major shareholders (beneficial owner of 10% or more of stock issued) in a firm that has commercial interests related to their research. Applying the criteria to the reference population of journals and Massachusetts academic authors, we measured the following frequencies for lead authors: .20 for serving on a scientific advisory board; .07 for being an officer, director, or major shareholder in a biotechnology firm; and .22 for being listed as an inventor in a related patent or patent application. The joint frequency of articles in the journals reviewed with a lead author that meets one of the three conditions is .34. Implications of these results for the new conflict of interest guidelines and disclosure policies are discussed.     

Qualitative research in psychology: Could William James get a job?

Considering the case of William James, the author examines the likelihood of a successful career as a qualitative researcher in contemporary U.S. psychology. Fifty-seven journals affiliated with the American Psychological Association or its divisions were analyzed to show the place of qualitative research in U.S. psychology over the past 50 years. Journal abstracts, mission statements, and a short e-mail questionnaire from editors were used to understand patterns and trends in qualitative research in U.S. psychology. Editors are generally accepting of qualitative work, although mission statements do not always signal likely interest in qualitative work. The amount of qualitative work published is comparably low, but patterns of increased publication are found in some journals. Trends in methodologies, topics of research, and ways in which qualitative research enters journals over time are discussed. Suggestions for the publication of qualitative work are provided.     

The family therapy journals in 2002: a thematic review

This article reviews the principal English-language (including British) family therapy journals for the year 2002. A number of common themes and threads predominate within these journals. Articles relating to these themes are reported under distinct headings. These themes were: responding to 9/11; marital therapy and diversity practice. Significant research papers are incorporated into the relevant heading. This is the final thematic review undertaken by the current author.     

Women in applied behavior analysis

The status of women in applied behavior analysis was examined by comparing the participation of women in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) to their participation in three similar journals. For all journals, the percentage of articles with at least one female author, the percentage of authors who are female, and the percentage of articles with a female first author increased from 1978 to 1997. Participation by women in JABA was equal to or greater than participation by women in the comparison journals. However, women appeared as authors on papers in special sections of Behavior Modification substantially more often when the editor was female than when the editor was male. In addition, female membership on the editorial boards of JABA, Behavior Modification, and Behaviour Research and Therapy failed to increase from 1978 to 1997. We conclude that a "glass ceiling" reduces the participation of women at the highest levels of applied behavior analysis and related fields.     

Publishing Your Research Results: Some Suggestions and Counsel

Success in publishing research results in counseling and other journals can determine whether professionals obtain or retain jobs and also impacts what knowledge is or is not disseminated in the literature. The author presents suggestions for being successful in publishing research results and also explores strategies for disseminating results once they are published.     

计算机心理干预在物质成瘾中的应用

针对物质成瘾者的计算机心理干预以传统心理干预理论为基础,通过计算机和网络对成瘾者进行干预。该方法通过提高成瘾者的自我效能感、应对技能、戒断动机等,达到帮助其戒断并预防复吸的目的。计算机心理干预对成瘾者虽有一定效果,但也存在一些问题,如其能否够弥补传统干预的不足,测量方法是否有效等。未来研究应进一步提高计算机干预的有效性,比较不同计算机干预方法对不同成瘾物质的适用性及有限性,并结合计算机干预与认知训练,推动计算机心理干预在物质成瘾中的应用。     

心理学计算机化实验的形式与生成系统

文章先概述单机实验、多种设备联机实验和在线实验三种心理学计算机化实验方法的特点,然后对E-Prime等四种基于Windows的心理学计算机化实验生成系统进行介绍,最后对心理学计算机化实验在形式、技术与应用上的未来进行展望。     

Infant observation: A range of questions and challenges for contemporary psychoanalysis1

The author attempts to integrate several perspectives within the field of infant observation that reflect the analyst's personal experience as a clinician, as a professor at the analytic institute and as a researcher in the field of psychoanalysis. Can infant observation contribute to analytic technique, theory and training? If so, what would be the nature of such contribution? To answer these questions, the author reviews the literature on infant observation from Freud to the present, highlighting Latin American contributions to this subject. She makes reference to the role of technological innovations, which have allowed videotaping, repeated observations, temporal segmentation and computerized programs, thus giving rise to microanalytic research. This discussion prompts the question about the contributions made by systematic research to clinical practice. To tackle this question, the author presents both a clinical vignette taken from her personal experience, and the current debate on this subject as it appears in the work of Daniel Stern and André Green. Finally, she presents some conclusions that are part of an ongoing debate in the psychoanalytic field.     

Women in the experimental analysis of behavior

We examined the status of women in the experimental analysis of behavior by comparing authorship by women in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) to authorship by women in three similar journals. For all journals, the percentage of articles with at least one female author, the percentage of authors who are female, and the percentage of articles with a female first author increased from 1978 to 1997. However, the participation by women in JEAB lagged behind participation in the other journals on each measure. Female membership on the editorial board of JEAB also failed to increase from 1978 to 1997. Suggestions are made that may increase the participation of women in the experimental analysis of behavior.     

But what does it mean in practice? The Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology from a practitioner perspective

The author offers some personal reflections on the relevance of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (JOOP) to human resource (HR) practitioners. Suggestions are made for how JOOP articles could be more relevant, and how their relevance could be made more explicit. These include (i) framing the research questions/hypotheses in terms that appeal to practitioner concerns as well as theoretical issues, (ii) more analysis of practical implications in the discussion section, (iii) more use of target articles with commentaries rather than special issues/sections, (iv) redirection of articles that focus primarily on method or instrument development to other journals and (v) making use of the World Wide Web. The arguments are illustrated with reference to papers recently published in JOOP.     

Authorship in a small medical journal: A study of contributorship statements by corresponding authors

The authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) are widely accepted in biomedical journals, but many studies in large and prestigious journals show that a considerable proportion of authors do not fulfill these criteria. We investigated authorship contributions in a small medical journal outside the scientific mainstream, to see if poor adherence to authorship criteria is common in biomedical journals. We analyzed statements on research contribution, as checked by the corresponding author, for individual authors of 114 research articles, representing 475 authors, submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) from 1999 to 2000. Only 40% of authors fulfilled the ICMJE authorship criteria. The authors listed first on the by-line were more likely to fulfill the authorship criteria than all other authors on the by-line. The percentage of authors fulfilling the ICMJE criteria of authorship decreased with the increase in the number of authors listed on the by-line. These results indicate that poor adherence to ICMJE authorship criteria is poor across biomedical journals, regardless of the size of the scientific community. Authorship and contributorship in biomedical journals, as well as editorial ethical responsibilities towards authorship criteria need critical redefinition and education of both editors and authors.     

Father hunger and narcissistic deformation

The author advances the hypothesis that paternal availability and the relationship between the mother and father are crucial components of evolving character structure in children. He proposes that a kind of narcissistic pathology featuring perverse sexuality may eventuate in the absence of paternal availability and in the presence of a disordered relationship between the parents. He also suggests that the ways in which aggression is or is not modulated and organized are crucial components of this evolving disorder, and that boys are more susceptible to its full manifestation and expression than are girls.     

Mad Scientist: The Unique Case of a Published Delusion

In 1951, entomologist Jay Traver published in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington her personal experiences with a mite infestation of her scalp that resisted all treatment and was undetectable to anyone other than herself. Traver is recognized as having suffered from Delusory Parasitosis: her paper shows her to be a textbook case of the condition. The Traver paper is unique in the scientific literature in that its conclusions may be based on data that was unconsciously fabricated by the author’s mind. The paper may merit retraction on the grounds of error or even scientific misconduct “by reason of insanity,” but such a retraction raises the issue of discrimination against the mentally ill. This article asks what responsibilities journals have when faced with delusions disguised as science, what right editors have to question the sanity of an author, and what should be done about the Traver paper itself. By placing higher emphasis on article content than author identity, scientific integrity is maintained and a balance is struck between avoiding discrimination against the mentally ill and not preventing patients from seeking needed treatment.     

Pastoral products or pastoral care? How marketplace language affects ministry in veterans hospitals

The author describes a veterans hospital context of healthcare ministry in which marketplace terminology, adopted institutionally, also impacts the Chaplain Service. He highlights specific elements of this commercialization of pastoral care, such as computerized documentation of "spiritual products" delivered in increments of ten minute units. Noting the power of language both to describe and create realities, the author suggests likely risks accompanying benefits of healthcare chaplaincy carried out on marketplace terms.     

Journal Reprints as Dissemination of Psychological Research: Courtesy,Obligation, or Obsolescence?

The proliferation of journals and the escalation of journal prices have made it difficult for psychologists, especially those in rural areas without access to comprehensive libraries, to obtain journal articles. A traditional source of otherwise unavailable papers is to request a reprint directly from the author. Although previous researchers found this method to be 60%-80% successful, there have been major changes in journal operations and alternative media since this research was conducted. In the present study, reprints were requested from 473 corresponding authors from 10 American Psychological Association journals. The compliance rate was 84% and reprints took, on average, 32 days to arrive. There was no difference in the rate or in the speed of response due to the requestor's status as an academic or applied psychologist. Although functional, the traditional reprint request method was slow, uncertain, and costly. It is suggested that a demand still exists for reprints, but that electronic reprints should replace the traditional paper format.