Good Publication Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Biomedical Research: 2022 Update

Annals of Internal Medicine published the fourth iteration of the Good Publication Practice guidelines (“GPP 2022") on company-sponsored biomedical research on 30 August. A peer-reviewed manuscript¹ and a detailed supplement present the main principles of GPP.

The term “good practice” refers to formal guidelines or generally accepted practices. Initially², the GPP guidelines provided ethical principles for publishing company-sponsored biomedical research. Additional GPP iterations³ and Good Practice for Conference Abstracts and Presentations (GPCAP) recommendations⁴ followed to answer day-to-day questions.

The GPP guidelines apply to peer-reviewed or peer-oriented biomedical publications, such as manuscripts, meeting presentations, posters, and abstracts, as well as enhanced content, such as plain-language summaries. By following these GPP guidelines, greater transparency and a solid ethical basis for publications will be achieved. In addition to enabling the ethical publication of company-sponsored research, this guidance is also intended to enable compliance with guidelines by groups such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors¹. The latest refinements are designed to make it easier for readers to identify and understand best practices for publishing company-sponsored research.

The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), a professional organization representing industry, medical communication agencies, publishers and academics, supported the development of GPP 2022. More than 500 ISMPP members and others provided feedback during the development process of GPP 2022, which represented a substantial expert and volunteer review before the journal review process. The authors solicited feedback from 38 invited experts and more than 120 sets of comments were received in response to the ISMPP call for volunteer reviewers. Lead author Lisa DeTora stated, “I am grateful for the input of our reviewers, whose comments improved the usability of our main manuscript and supplement”.

In the 2022 edition, the following topics were added:

•	Patients’ roles as authors or contributors, publication policies and procedures
•	Posting peer-reviewed articles on social media
•	Enhanced content such as plain language summaries, videos, audio or infographics
•	Inclusivity

The manuscript describes principles for ethics and planning biomedical publications responsibly, A supplement outlines important elements of the publication profession, such as the formation of steering committees and the process of publishing. New information also describes work in alliances. Additionally, plain language summaries are encouraged by the authors.

The Supplement includes sections on: Steering Committees, Publication Plans, Publication Working Groups, Authorship and Contributorship Determination and Publication Processes. There is also a table mapping GPP3 contents to the new GPP update.

To ensure the widespread adoption of GPP guidelines, continuous efforts are required. These guidelines should be endorsed by journals, conferences and academic institutions so that they can be disseminated throughout the research community⁵. Health care quality will be improved, education will be supported and public health will be improved by rapid publication of biomedical research.

“We are proud to bring this updated set of good practice guidelines to the biomedical publications community”, said Dikran Toroser, co-author of GPP 2022 and board member of ACSE.

REFERENCES

1. DeTora, L.M., D. Toroser, A. Sykes, C. Vanderlinden and F.J. Plunkett et al., 2022. Good publication practice (GPP) guidelines for company-sponsored biomedical research: 2022 update. Ann. Internal Med., 175: 1298-1304.
   
2. Wager, E., E.A. Field and L. Grossman, 2003. Good publication practice for pharmaceutical companies. Curr. Med. Res. Opin., 19: 149-154.
   
3. Graf, C., W.P Battisti, D. Bridges, V. Bruce-Winkler and J.M. Conaty et al., 2009. Good publication practice for communicating company sponsored medical research: The GPP2 guidelines. BMJ.
   
4. Foster, C., E. Wager, J. Marchington, M. Patel and S. Banner et al., 2019. Good practice for conference abstracts and presentations: GPCAP. Res. Integrity Peer Rev.
   
5. DeTora, L., C. Foster, C. Skobe, Y.E. Yarker and F.P. Crawley, 2015. Publication planning: Promoting an ethics of transparency and integrity in biomedical research. Int. J. Clin. Pract., 69: 915-921.