Ethics and Editors

Abstract

lDuring the last twenty-five years, there have been repeated suggestions that an effective way to ensure high standards in research is to suppress publication of unethical research.' Editors of biomedical journals were not initially receptive to such a proposal. In 1966, William Curran reported that a survey conducted by the Boston University LawMedicine Institute had found that most medical-journal editors did not see as one of their own responsibilities the checking or monitoring of papers submitted to assure that the researchers had followed accepted practices to protect the subject's rights in experimental situations.2 The push for prepublication screening continued, however. In 1970, the Council of Biology Editors issued a three-page recommendation on ethical experimentation and the editor. It began by stating: