The AJRCCM in 2005
http://www.100md.com
《美国医学杂志》
Appropriate for the beginning of a new year, the AJRCCM is undergoing a number of changes, some immediately apparent and others less so. Although some modifications, such as our new full cover figure, are primarily aesthetic, others directly affect how we consider and present the intellectual content of the Journal.
REGISTRATION OF CLINICAL TRIALS
Much attention has been paid to using evidence-based medicine (EBM) in selecting the most appropriate therapies for patients. Information from clinical trials, demonstrating benefit, inferiority, or equivalence of pharmacologic or other interventions, is essential in making treatment decisions. The best decision-making processes use the most complete data set. Unfortunately, not all clinical trial results are published or enter the public domain. This lack of reporting is of particular concern for negative studies, where a new treatment is less effective than standard therapy, or for inconclusive studies, where it is unclear if one intervention is truly better than another. Yet, the results of negative or inconclusive studies, like those from clearly positive clinical trials, may have important clinical utility in choosing whether to use a particular therapy. A solution to this problem of selective reporting is to require that all clinical trials be entered into a public, electronically searchable registry before initiation, and that their results be posted when the study has been completed. Then, even if the trial results are not published, they are still accessible for analysis and relevant clinical decision making.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has addressed this issue of selective reporting by proposing that reports of clinical trials be considered for publication only if the trial was registered before the commencement of patient enrollment in a publicly accessible and searchable clinical trials registry (1, 2). The AJRCCM has joined with ICMJE member journals in this effort. This policy will apply to any trials that begin enrollment after July 1, 2005. For trials that began enrollment before July 1, 2005, the study must be registered by September 13, 2005. While we don't require registration in a specific registry, any registry chosen must be accessible to the public at no charge, must be available to all potential registrants, and must be managed by a not-for-profit organization. One such registry, www.clinicaltrials.gov, will accept all research studies in human volunteers. More details about the ICMJE criteria are available on their website at www.icmje.org Section III.J.
The requirement to register clinical trials in its broadest sense includes both industry-sponsored as well as investigator-initiated trials, covers single-center and multicenter studies, and applies to international as well as country specific investigations of therapeutic interventions in patients. This policy applies to investigations of pharmacologic as well as other potentially therapeutic interventions, such as ventilator modalities or resuscitation solutions. It is understood that there can be some ambiguity about what constitutes a "clinical trial," and investigators are encouraged to contact the Editor to discuss such questions.
STRUCTURED ABSTRACTS
Starting in September 2004, structured abstracts have been required for original research articles submitted to the AJRCCM. Structured abstracts provide a consistent format to summarize a study, and include the following headings: Rationale, Objectives, Methods, Measurements and Main Results, and Conclusions. Given the necessary lags in the revision and acceptance process for the Journal, some articles will continue to appear over the next several months with unstructured abstracts.
CENTENNIAL REVIEWS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Thoracic Society. In honor of this singular event, the AJRCCM in conjunction with the AJRCMB will be publishing a series of special review articles highlighting the remarkable progress made during the past 100 years in understanding, diagnosing, and treating major respiratory conditions. This series will begin in March and topics will include COPD, tuberculosis, asthma, interstitial lung disease, lung cancer, acute lung injury, pulmonary hypertension, and cystic fibrosis. The AJRCCM will focus on the advances made in diagnosis and treatment, while the AJRCMB will emphasize insights into pathophysiology and basic mechanisms of disease.
EDITORS' SELECTIONS
The AJRCCM uses editorials to comment on articles that provide important insights into the pathophysiology or treatment of respiratory or critical care disorders. A new feature, called "Editors' Selections," now appears in each issue of the Journal, and is aimed at highlighting articles that the Editors believe are of particular interest. Unlike editorials, which include background and perspective on studies published in the AJRCCM, "Editors' Selections" is designed to summarize the findings of several articles in each issue that are deemed to be particularly novel. The choice of articles for mention in "Editors' Selections" is by its very nature arbitrary, as all papers that appear in the Journal are selected for their importance and ability to move the field forward.
BRIGHTER IMAGES IN ATS JOURNALS
The standard printing process for color images uses the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) technique in which an image is created by mixing the four colors. The color figure is printed on a multipass press, with each page receiving ink from each of four colored plates. While CMYK works adequately for printed images, there is a loss of color fidelity for electronic files which are captured in RGB (red, green, blue), the same technique used for computer displays. Previously, the AJRCCM requested that images be submitted in CMYK format, which often resulted in unfortunate losses of color fidelity.
Only in the past year have original RGB images been used in online journals (3). The AJRCCM and other ATS journals are delighted to now join this small group. To maximize image quality, illustrations should now be submitted to the AJRCCM in RGB format. We will use the original RGB images in our online journals, providing brighter and more true colors. Authors will receive electronic figure proofs in their online format, which should duplicate the original colors of the illustration. Since print can only be done in CMYK, the paper version of the figures will still be done in CMYK, but will represent the best possible conversion to CMYK from the original RGB image.
FOOTNOTES
Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 171. pp 1–4, 2005
Internet address: www.atsjournals.org
Conflict of Interest Statement: E.A. is the Editor of the AJRCCM and receives a fixed stipend from the American Thoracic Society as Editor of the AJRCCM and does not receive financial support for research from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies and does not serve as a consultant for any pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device company.
REFERENCES
De Angelis C, Drazen JM, Frizelle FA, Haug C, Hoey J, Horton R, Koitzin S, Laine C, Marusic A, Overbeke AJPM, et al. Clinical trial registration: a statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. N Engl J Med 2004;351:1250–1251.
Steinbrook R. Registration of clinical trials — voluntary or mandatory? N Engl J Med 2004;351:1820–1822.
Rossner M, O'Donnell R. The JCB will let your data shine in RGB. J Cell Biol 2004;164:1–3.(Edward Abraham, M.D., Edi)
REGISTRATION OF CLINICAL TRIALS
Much attention has been paid to using evidence-based medicine (EBM) in selecting the most appropriate therapies for patients. Information from clinical trials, demonstrating benefit, inferiority, or equivalence of pharmacologic or other interventions, is essential in making treatment decisions. The best decision-making processes use the most complete data set. Unfortunately, not all clinical trial results are published or enter the public domain. This lack of reporting is of particular concern for negative studies, where a new treatment is less effective than standard therapy, or for inconclusive studies, where it is unclear if one intervention is truly better than another. Yet, the results of negative or inconclusive studies, like those from clearly positive clinical trials, may have important clinical utility in choosing whether to use a particular therapy. A solution to this problem of selective reporting is to require that all clinical trials be entered into a public, electronically searchable registry before initiation, and that their results be posted when the study has been completed. Then, even if the trial results are not published, they are still accessible for analysis and relevant clinical decision making.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has addressed this issue of selective reporting by proposing that reports of clinical trials be considered for publication only if the trial was registered before the commencement of patient enrollment in a publicly accessible and searchable clinical trials registry (1, 2). The AJRCCM has joined with ICMJE member journals in this effort. This policy will apply to any trials that begin enrollment after July 1, 2005. For trials that began enrollment before July 1, 2005, the study must be registered by September 13, 2005. While we don't require registration in a specific registry, any registry chosen must be accessible to the public at no charge, must be available to all potential registrants, and must be managed by a not-for-profit organization. One such registry, www.clinicaltrials.gov, will accept all research studies in human volunteers. More details about the ICMJE criteria are available on their website at www.icmje.org Section III.J.
The requirement to register clinical trials in its broadest sense includes both industry-sponsored as well as investigator-initiated trials, covers single-center and multicenter studies, and applies to international as well as country specific investigations of therapeutic interventions in patients. This policy applies to investigations of pharmacologic as well as other potentially therapeutic interventions, such as ventilator modalities or resuscitation solutions. It is understood that there can be some ambiguity about what constitutes a "clinical trial," and investigators are encouraged to contact the Editor to discuss such questions.
STRUCTURED ABSTRACTS
Starting in September 2004, structured abstracts have been required for original research articles submitted to the AJRCCM. Structured abstracts provide a consistent format to summarize a study, and include the following headings: Rationale, Objectives, Methods, Measurements and Main Results, and Conclusions. Given the necessary lags in the revision and acceptance process for the Journal, some articles will continue to appear over the next several months with unstructured abstracts.
CENTENNIAL REVIEWS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Thoracic Society. In honor of this singular event, the AJRCCM in conjunction with the AJRCMB will be publishing a series of special review articles highlighting the remarkable progress made during the past 100 years in understanding, diagnosing, and treating major respiratory conditions. This series will begin in March and topics will include COPD, tuberculosis, asthma, interstitial lung disease, lung cancer, acute lung injury, pulmonary hypertension, and cystic fibrosis. The AJRCCM will focus on the advances made in diagnosis and treatment, while the AJRCMB will emphasize insights into pathophysiology and basic mechanisms of disease.
EDITORS' SELECTIONS
The AJRCCM uses editorials to comment on articles that provide important insights into the pathophysiology or treatment of respiratory or critical care disorders. A new feature, called "Editors' Selections," now appears in each issue of the Journal, and is aimed at highlighting articles that the Editors believe are of particular interest. Unlike editorials, which include background and perspective on studies published in the AJRCCM, "Editors' Selections" is designed to summarize the findings of several articles in each issue that are deemed to be particularly novel. The choice of articles for mention in "Editors' Selections" is by its very nature arbitrary, as all papers that appear in the Journal are selected for their importance and ability to move the field forward.
BRIGHTER IMAGES IN ATS JOURNALS
The standard printing process for color images uses the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) technique in which an image is created by mixing the four colors. The color figure is printed on a multipass press, with each page receiving ink from each of four colored plates. While CMYK works adequately for printed images, there is a loss of color fidelity for electronic files which are captured in RGB (red, green, blue), the same technique used for computer displays. Previously, the AJRCCM requested that images be submitted in CMYK format, which often resulted in unfortunate losses of color fidelity.
Only in the past year have original RGB images been used in online journals (3). The AJRCCM and other ATS journals are delighted to now join this small group. To maximize image quality, illustrations should now be submitted to the AJRCCM in RGB format. We will use the original RGB images in our online journals, providing brighter and more true colors. Authors will receive electronic figure proofs in their online format, which should duplicate the original colors of the illustration. Since print can only be done in CMYK, the paper version of the figures will still be done in CMYK, but will represent the best possible conversion to CMYK from the original RGB image.
FOOTNOTES
Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 171. pp 1–4, 2005
Internet address: www.atsjournals.org
Conflict of Interest Statement: E.A. is the Editor of the AJRCCM and receives a fixed stipend from the American Thoracic Society as Editor of the AJRCCM and does not receive financial support for research from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies and does not serve as a consultant for any pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device company.
REFERENCES
De Angelis C, Drazen JM, Frizelle FA, Haug C, Hoey J, Horton R, Koitzin S, Laine C, Marusic A, Overbeke AJPM, et al. Clinical trial registration: a statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. N Engl J Med 2004;351:1250–1251.
Steinbrook R. Registration of clinical trials — voluntary or mandatory? N Engl J Med 2004;351:1820–1822.
Rossner M, O'Donnell R. The JCB will let your data shine in RGB. J Cell Biol 2004;164:1–3.(Edward Abraham, M.D., Edi)