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Correspondence |
The University of Iowa, Department of Anesthesia, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242-1009, USA. Phone: 319-356-4601; Fax: 319-353-6817; E-mail: anesthesiology{at}uiowa.edu
Editor’s note: The correspondence below addresses a serious issue concerning the publication of two very similar articles from the same group of investigators, one appearing first in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia in October 2004, and subsequently in January 2005, in Anesthesiology. By mutual agreement of the Editors, these letters are published simultaneously in both journals.
Donald R. Miller, MD, Editor-in-Chief
(RE: Nielsen KC, Guller U, Steele SM, Klein SM, Greengrass RA, Pietrobon R. Influence of obesity on surgical regional anesthesia in the ambulatory setting: an analysis of 9,038 blocks. Anesthesiology 2005; 102: 181–7).
It was called to my attention by a reader that the article by Nielsen et al. published in the January 2005 issue of Anesthesiology,1 was very similar in design and conclusions from another article published by the same authors in the October 2004 issue of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.2 The authors’ comments follow:
Reply to MS #200503055
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to respond. We wish to apologize to the editorial staff and readership of Anesthesiology1 and the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.2
In October 2004 we published a study in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and in January 2005 we published another article in Anesthesiology. At the time of the Anesthesiology submission we failed to notify the journal of the existence of the prior paper which utilized the same dataset and had similar methodology. Although the paper in Anesthesiology expanded upon the findings reported in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, this is inconsistent with our acknowledgement of the Instructions for Authors which states "Submitted manuscripts must not have been published elsewhere, in whole or in part...". We realize that journals must take this issue seriously. It is necessary to maintain integrity and provide the peer review process the complete information to thoroughly evaluate a manuscript and arrive at the optimal decision. While not intended to hide the existence of another manuscript our actions did not allow this process to occur. We take the issue of academic integrity seriously. We are sincerely sorry for causing this situation.
Karen C. Nielsen, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Duke University Medical Center
Ulrich Guller, MD, MHS, Research Fellow
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center
Susan M. Steele, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Duke University Medical Center
Stephen M. Klein, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Duke University Medical Center
Roy A. Greengrass, MD, FRCP, MD, FRCP,
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Mayo Clinic at Jacksonville, FL
Ricardo Pietrobon, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Duke University Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
Correspondence to: Karen C. Nielsen, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Box 3094, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Phone: 919-668-2051; Fax: 919-668-2081; E-mail: niels006{at}mc.duke.edu
References
1 Nielsen KC, Guller U, Steele SM, Klein SM, Greengrass RA, Pietrobon R. Influence of obesity on surgical regional anesthesia in the ambulatory setting: an analysis of 9,038 blocks. Anesthesiology 2005; 102: 181–7.[Medline]
2 Cotter JT, Nielsen KC, Guller U, Steele SM, Klein SM, Greengrass RA, Pietrobon R. Increased body mass index and ASA physical status IV are risk factors for block failure in ambulatory surgery - an analysis of 9,342 blocks. Can J Anesth 2004; 51: 810–6.
The first paragraph of the cover letter signed by authors submitting their work to Anesthesiology states that: "On behalf of my co-authors, I am submitting the enclosed material for possible publication in Anesthesiology. It has not been submitted for publication nor has it been published in whole or in part elsewhere. ...... I acknowledge that both I and the other authors have read the Instructions for Authors and agree with its contents." Those Instructions, in turn, state that "Submitted manuscripts must not have been published elsewhere, in whole or in part, on paper or electronically. ..... The Editor-in-Chief must be notified if another manuscript derived from the same experiment has been published previously, or has been submitted to another journal." Nearly identical statements and requirements can be found in the author instructions of most journals - including the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.
While the authors signed cover letters, first to the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and then to Anesthesiology, attesting to their compliance with the these conditions, they did not, in fact, comply - which resulted in the publication of two very similar articles. This has now resulted in embarrassment to both Journals and to the authors. While the articles are not identical, the overlap is substantial, and if either Dr. Miller or I had been aware of the other submission, the editorial and review process would have been entirely different.
This is unfortunate and unnecessary. Editors are fully aware that it s often impossible to summarize the results of large complex studies in a single manuscript. If I had been aware of the overlap, the authors would have been given the opportunity to explain the differences in the two papers- and by working with the editorial offices, they could easily have produced a second paper addressing a distinctly different (or complementary) aspect of their study. This is something that we do on a regular basis - all it requires is that the authors be forthcoming about their other work. The result would have benefited the authors, the Journal - and our readers.
This situation should serve as a lesson to all authors. Editors take their Instructions to Authors very seriously - and so should authors. Editors are also more flexible than some might believe. There is no reason to conceal other manuscripts from us. Like authors, we want to publish the results of high-quality science (and the quality of the work being done by Nielsen, et al. is not in question). In most cases, we are happy to work with authors toward achieving a mutually beneficial result. We simply ask that authors honor their signed statements and comply fully with the well accepted "rules" established by all journals.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  D. R. Miller and F. Donati Peer review policies and the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia: an update for authors and readers/La politique d'evaluation par des pairs du Journal Canadien d'Anesthesie: une mise a jour destinee aux auteurs et aux lecteurs Can J Anesth, January 1, 2007; 54(1): 1 - 8. [Full Text] [PDF]
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