Ethical Editor

Allegations of ethical misbehavior on the part of scientific authors are nothing new.1 In some instances, the allegations are brought to a journal office’s attention by a reviewer or editor during the peer-review process. In others, they are made after an article’s publication. Allegations can be categorized in many ways but generally are considered under the following headings:2 Mistreatment of research subjects.• Falsification or fabrication of data.• Piracy or plagiarism.• With the advent of plagiarism and image-scanning software and in an environment of growing awareness, the number of ethical issues being reported to journal offices seems to be on the rise, and journals are spending increasing amounts of time and money to review them. However, journal offices and publishers can take several actions to lower the tangible costs (such as costs of staff time, forensic tools, expert opinions, and legal advice) in an attempt to promote ethical behavior among authors and reduce the number of allegations that require followup. Establish clear policies and make them readily accessible to authors. A journal’s instructions for authors are an excellent means for communicating accept-able journal standards and policies to authors and giving them mechanisms for contacting the journal office with allegations of suspected misconduct. It can be as simple as including a few paragraphs about journal policies or letting authors know that the journal fol-lows the ethics policies of a committee, such as the International Committee of Medica