| Abstract: | There are many ethical responsibilities in preparing and publishing a scientific paper. The various responsibilities of authors, referees, editors and publishers are considered. While editors and publishers have a responsibility to seek to identify unethical or fraudulent papers, this is not always possible and primary responsibility for the accuracy of papers must lie with the authors. Editors however have a greater responsibility to try to ensure ethical behaviour in the refereeing process and to draw referees’ attention to the privileged nature of the paper under review. The requirements for the ethical handling of papers by the editors and publishers are also discussed, as are recent developments in public interest in the question of ethics in publishing papers. |
