PREFACE
The development of this book had many
complex motives but a single purpose. The motives include
the improvement of scientific integrity in the field of addiction
studies, the sharing of information with junior investigators,
and the strengthening of addiction specialty journals. The
main purpose of this volume, however, is to provide a practical
guide to scientific publishing in the addiction field, one
that is used often enough to have an impact on personal decisions,
individual careers, institutional policies and the progress
of science. We realize that this is an ambitious undertaking,
but the need is great and the time is ripe for doing something
constructive.
The field of addiction research has grown
tremendously in recent years and has spread to new parts of
the world. With that growth there has been a concomitant increase
in competition between researchers, the addition of new bureaucratic
regulations, and a growing industry interest in research.
New professional societies have taken root and increased in
size; research centres and university departments have provided
an institutional home for addiction scientists; and regulatory
responsibilities such as conflict of interest declarations,
human and animal subjects assurances and the monitoring of
scientific misconduct have been put into place. It is our
contention that the journal publishing enterprise, the main
organ of scientific communication in the field, has an important
role to play in all of these developments, and a guide such
as the present one will contribute to the further development
of addiction science.
The inspiration for this volume came from
the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE),
which also provided financial and moral support at all stages
of the project. ISAJE is not only the first society for addiction
journal editors, it is also the first international organization
specifically devoted to the improvement of scientific publishing
in the addiction field. Formally constituted in 2001 as a
non-profit organization, the establishment of ISAJE reflects
a trend across the broader fields of biomedical and scientific
publishing to coordinate efforts and develop a sense of professionalism
in what had heretofore been a disparate collection of individual
editors and independent journals. During the past 25 years,
a number of professional societies have been created to improve
the quality of scientific publishing, including the Council
of Science Editors, the European Association of Science Editors,
the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences, the International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors, and the World Association
of Medical Editors. Although these organizations have supported
the development of training materials and publication guides,
none has addressed the special needs of publishing in the
rapidly growing area of addiction science.
From its inception, ISAJE has recognized
a need for ethical guidelines for member journals. There are
several reasons why ethical issues are particularly important
in the addiction science field. Strong industries, such as
pharmaceutical manufacturers and alcohol producers, have important
financial interests to protect, and they pay special attention
to the work of addiction scientists. Further, many addiction-related
issues are politically loaded, a situation that could affect
the objectivity of researchers. In addition, many of the individuals
who are the object of addiction research are vulnerable and
in need of special protections. Finally, the field of science
has become much more challenging from an ethical perspective
because of its growing importance and complexity. Although
ISAJE had drafted a set of ethical guidelines (see Appendix
B), it was soon recognized that abstract policy statements
and moral pronouncements are rarely read carefully, and even
less often applied to the day to day business of conducting
research and communicating ideas to the scientific community.
This book is a practicallyoriented effort to improve transparency
in addiction publishing, and in the process show how young
investigators can negotiate the complex and sometimes bewildering
challenges to a successful career in the field.
There are many people and organizations that deserve credit
for making this volume possible. In addition to ISAJE, the
Society for the Study of Addiction provided financial support.
We are grateful to the World Health Organization for their
decision to co-sponsor the publication of this volume, as
well as the research institutions that enabled the authors
and editors to work on this collaborative effort: The University
of Connecticut Alcohol Research Center, Farmington, USA; Centre
for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University,
Sweden; the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare
and Health, Helsinki, Finland; the Institute of Psychiatry,
University of London, and University College, London, UK.
A number of individuals provided key input throughout the
process of reviewing manuscript drafts and developing the
main themes of the book. In particular, we thank Betsy Thom,
Griffith Edwards, Vladimir Poznyak, Isidore Obot, Hem Raj
Pal, Jie Shi, Andreas Plüddemann, Evgeny Kruptisky, Florence
Kerr-Corrêa, Andrea Mitchell, Klaus Mäkelä,
John Noble, Gillian Tober and Holger Weiss. We also acknowledge
the contribution of addiction editors and their staff members
who have supplied information about their journals for Appendix
A.
Rapid developments in the field of addiction
publishing will no doubt necessitate rather frequent revisions
of parts of this book. Financial support from the US National
Institute on Drug Abuse will make it possible for the editors
to use the Internet, not only for downloading free copies
of the text, but also for the necessary updating of certain
chapters and the appendices.
We hope that this book will be widely
used around the world in the training of young researchers
and the continuing education of seasoned addiction scientists.
Given the rapidly changing nature of the field, it is our
intention to learn from the training sessions and feedback
we receive from colleagues in order to develop future versions
of this guide.
The Editors
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Chapter One
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