Applying the good publication practice 2022 guidelines in the Asia-Pacific region: a practical guide

Abstract

Objective

The Asia-Pacific region (APAC) represents a unique environment for the publication of biomedical research, particularly industry-funded research. Awareness and adoption of international guidelines on ethical publication practices continues to increase across APAC, but the reframing and expansion of many of the recommendations in the Good Publication Practice (GPP) 2022 guidelines versus GPP3 published in 2015 have important implications for publishing industry-funded biomedical research in the region.

Methods

This manuscript provides practical guidance for stakeholders in APAC on interpreting and applying the recommendations made in the GPP 2022 guidelines.

Results

Key focus areas include navigating new opportunities for communicating industry-funded research, such as plain language summaries, social media, and preprints; implementing formal processes to improve the integrity of published research in APAC; and methods of promoting transparency and inclusion when publishing industry-funded research. Key APAC-specific issues, including encore presentations, leadership on publication ethics in the region, access to professional resources, and support for educating regional stakeholders are also discussed.

Conclusions

Overall, this manuscript offers a pragmatic guide for stakeholders in industry-sponsored research on applying GPP 2022 in practice with a focus on effectively integrating these guidelines in an APAC context.

Keywords:

• Asia-Pacific
• authorship
• conflict of interest
• disclosures
• ethics
• good publication practice
• manuscript development

Transparency

Declaration of financial/other relationships

Blair Hesp, Katsuhisa Arai, Magdalene Chu, Malvika Katarya, Namita Bose, Rachael Profit, and Andrew Sakko are employees of companies offering medical communications services to pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries and authors within APAC, including publication planning consultancy and professional medical writing support. Blair Hesp is an employee and shareholder of Kainic Medical Communications Ltd. Katsuhisa Arai is an employee of Wiley Publishers. Magdalene Chu is an employee of MIMS (Hong Kong) Ltd. Malvika Katarya is an employee of AMICULUM Asia Pte Ltd. Namita Bose is an employee of Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd. Jonathan Lee is an employee of Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG–Singapore Branch, a sponsor of clinical research performed in APAC, holds Takeda stock, and is also the current Chair of the International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) Asia-Pacific Education Taskforce (APET), which is responsible for organizing quarterly educational webinars for ISMPP members in APAC. Ronnie Lin is an employee of Hasten Biopharmaceutic Co., Ltd and is the Asia-Pacific representative on the ISMPP Board of Trustees. Rachael Profit is an employee of MIMS Pte Ltd (Taiwan Branch). Andrew Sakko is an employee of Syneos Health. Hazel Fernandez is an employee of Janssen Asia Pacific, a sponsor of clinical research performed in the Asia-Pacific region. Blair Hesp, Jonathan Lee, Andrew Sakko, and Hazel Fernandez have obtained the ISMPP CMPP qualification. Blair Hesp, Jonathan Lee, and Andrew Sakko provided comment during the ISMPP member review process of GPP 2022. The ideas presented are those of the authors, and not intended to represent those of their employers. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

All authors provided substantial contributions to the conception of the work, substantially contributed to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the manuscript and drafting, revising, and critically reviewing the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors approved final version of this manuscript to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Acknowledgements

Blair Hesp wishes to thank Suszie Tyree and Erin Peebles of Kainic Medical Communications Ltd. (Dunedin, New Zealand) for reviewing the draft manuscript and providing editorial feedback.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.