Abstract
Objective: The ethics of publishing in psychiatry has received little attention. This paper examines, in a historical context, pertinent ethical problems and makes a number of recommendations to deal with them.
Method: Medical databases and websites were explored, and discussions held with ethicists, legal experts, publishers and researchers.
Results: Although serious “publishing misconduct” appears to have been rare in the psychiatric literature, any occurrence of redundant publication, plagiarism and publication of fraudulent or inhumane research is disturbing. Difficulties around authorship, sensitive use of language, conflict of interest, and bias in the publishing process are additional issues considered.
Conclusions: A clearly articulated publishing ethos is desirable. This might be achieved by developing guidelines on publishing ethics, teaching the subject to key stakeholders, journals committing themselves to the ethical dimension of their operations, and penalising colleagues who violate principles of good conduct.