Introducing the EASE Interactive Checklist for Submitting Authors

COPE Workshop for Journal Editors at the University of Split - EASE

EASE Council members Iva Grabarić Andonovski and Ksenija Baždarić report on the COPE workshop for journal editors, themed on Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing, at the University of Split.

New Peer Review Quality Guidelines from EASE: Interview with Dr. Mario Malički

How can journals tell which aspects of their peer review processes work well and which may need some work? EASE has released draft guidelines for assessing peer review quality to help journal publishers and editors get closer to an answer.

Editorial input on manuscript review feedback

Not applicable.

Reporting and presentation of statistical analyses: instructions for authors of health sciences journals based in South Africa

Background: Statistical analyses are a key component of quantitative research in health sciences. Objectives: To review the instructions for authors on reporting and presentation of statistical methods by all health sciences journals based in South Africa. Methods: Health sciences journals based in South Africa that publish original quanti-tative research articles were identified using three sources, namely the list of accred-ited South African journals compiled by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training in 2022, relevant journals covered in Scopus, and web pages of major health sciences publishers in South Africa. The list was cross-checked against the listing of journals in Sabinet, an online database covering South Africa, under the category ‘Collection: Medicine and Health’. The instructions for authors given by the journals were accessed through their websites. The form for recording data was based on items listed in the ‘Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature’ (SAMPL) guidelines. Results: All except one of the 52 journals could be located online. Of the 51, 13 (25%) made no mention of statistics in their instructions, and 11 (22%) made only a gen-eral statement regarding statistical content with no further guidance. The statistical item most frequently mentioned was the P value (45% of journals), whereas the rest of the items appeared in the instructions of 20% or fewer journals. Nine journals (18%) referred to the EQUATOR guidelines, mainly CONSORT (10%). Conclusion: Nearly half of the health sciences journals based in South Africa either did not mention statistics at all in their instructions for authors or made only a cur-sory reference to statistics. The study thus emphasizes that these journals, in their instructions for authors, need to cover in greater detail the reporting and presenta-tion of statistical methods in articles reporting quantitative research.

Integrating an artificial intelligence chatbot in scientific communication: Dos and don’ts

Academic journals should rethink the concept of originality before permitting the use of ChatGPT

How editors can help authors write better papers: Beyond journals and articles

We present the experience of journal editors in improving the quality of published papers. As the editors of the Croatian Medical Journal, a journal from the so-called scientific periphery, we realized, very early after the start of the journal in 1991, that our authors needed significant assistance with their articles. We worked individually with journal authors and then moved this activity to the next stage – intensive workshops for authors. The work with the journals enabled us to extend these activities to graduate and postgraduate students – future authors.