In this piece, we highlight three topics in the medical publishing industry that are sparking discussions. We focus on the updated International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations and the Accurate Consensus Reporting Document (ACCORD) reporting guidelines. We also take a look at an article on the state of pharmaceutical events and meetings in 2024.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors published an updated version of the ICMJE recommendations in January 2024. This update includes guidance on how work conducted with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) technology should be acknowledged, the use of AI in the review process, medical publishing and carbon emissions, and acknowledgement of funding support. An updated version with annotations of changes is linked above, and the full PDF can be downloaded from www.icmje.org.
The ACCORD guideline was published in PLOS Medicine in January and presented at the 2024 European Meeting of ISMPP. This aims to help the scientific community write complete and transparent research reports involving consensus methods. The reporting of consensus methods research has historically been poorly reported. This is the first reporting guideline that is applicable to all consensus methods, regardless of the objective of the consensus process. A good place to begin with this new guideline is the explanation and elaboration document,which is currently available as a preprint. It provides examples from the literature to demonstrate how to report each checklist item.
The state of pharmaceutical events and meetings in 2024
This article presents an argument for virtual or hybrid meetings over in-person meetings, specifically for insight-gathering or ad board-style meetings within the pharma industry. The author argues that in-person meetings are expensive, inflexible, associated with a large environmental footprint, and not accommodating for everyone’s schedules. Importantly, they may limit “air time” per participant or lead to an uneven share of voice among participants. Virtual/hybrid meetings can be associated with cost savings, are more sustainable, and have diversity, equity, and inclusion benefits. The author predicts that in 2024 we will continue to embrace virtual and hybrid approaches to meetings and conferences.
