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Hello all,
 
Of course I want my work to be peer-reviewed and widely shared. This is both to validate its quality and to make sure the results have an impact of some kind. Both of these are ethical matters. An academic journal sits at the top of the hierarchy of options for such validation and dissemination. The problem is practical - it takes time to identify suitable outlets and reformat / refocus what is often a much longer and more discursive body of work. Sometimes the pragmatic option (lower down the hierarchy) is to get the work peer-reviewed by expert colleagues and put it into the 'grey' universe of reports (which it is then the researcher's job to disseminate as efficiently and honourably as possible). The decision is not an easy one. We aim for the mountain tops but sometimes have to be content with the foothills.
 
There is in fact an argument in favour of peer-review by known colleagues (rather than by anonymous journal reviewers)  - a) I know their credentials, b) the process pulls them into a 'community of knowledge' (rather like this forum).
 

Roy Marsh, Research Fellow, Evidence Adoption Centre, Cambridge.

T: 01223 746161 


 

 
From: Evidence based health (EBH) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Caroline Boulind
Sent: 11 March 2011 09:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: unpublished research - is it ethical

I tend to agree with Patricia on allowing low risk research by students. I'm not sure if medical students may differ a little, becuase like it or not medicine is very much publication driven and medical students and junior doctors have a strong drive to be published in peer reviewed journals. They also tend to do research on the back of existing projects with experienced researchers.
I am doing a research fellowship at the moment, co-ordinating and clinical RCT and as a result of poor teaching on research, which I think is a universal problem in medicine, I have had a very steep learning curve and have essentially had to learn on the job. Allowing medics to gain experience of good research methods at an early stage, whether or not this culminates in peer reviewed publication or not, is a valuable use of time and resources, especially in a low risk environment.
 
Caroline
 
Dr. Caroline Boulind
Clinical Research Fellow
01935 384559

>>> Patricia Lucas <[log in to unmask]> 11/03/2011 07:39 >>>

Dear all

I completely disagree with the last writer. Our approach should be proportionate and take a measured approach to thinking about research.

Student research is undertaken the world over with little expectation that the results will reach the publiv domain. The benefit is to the community of researchers or practitioners through the education of the next generation.

This decision should consider the actual risk posed by the research. An awful lot of research poses no geater risk than the time taken to participate. Any research restricted to interviews, questionnaires or case review for example. So we should be comfortable with residents undertaking such low risk research as part of their learning. This balance would change if the risks were greater e.g. If treatment decisions were to be altered.

Best wishes

Patricia

On 11 Mar 2011 01:12, "Richard Saitz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Seems to me the issue here is not about publication in journals.

When research is done there are risks to participants. Those risks are only
justified if there are benefits (to them or to science). If the research
results are not available to anyone then they cannot benefit anyone (beyond
those in the study). If they cannot benefit anyone else, then the risk of
the study was not justified. (an internationally accepted ethical
principle).

One can make a solid case for peer review (not that it is perfect but it is
difficult to argue that zero review is a better system for vetting
scientific results). But the issue here is not (in my view) publication in
peer review journals. The ethical issue is making the results available
because if that is not done, the risk was not justified (and one could
ask--why was it done if not to share it).

One might imagine doing a study and telling participants---we will do this
study but we will never publish the results. Anywhere. Because we don't
think peer reviewed journals are good. We will keep them secret. Or, we wont
share them because we are too busy to write them down...

Would the participant agree? Should they? Is that ethical? And to return to
the focus of the listserve, what is the impact on systematic reviews that
try to determine the efficacy of interventions when such studies are not
reported? (they become either useless or unknowingly biased...)

Best
Rich Saitz

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