Marcovitch Harvey
Associate Editor, BMJ and previously Editor, Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Mens Sana Monogr. 2008 Jan;6(1):237-43. doi: 10.4103/0973-1229.33004.
Papers in medical journals are often difficult to understand and tedious to read. An editor's first loyalty should be to readers, by prioritising readability over merely producing a repository of data for the scientific community generally.The web now provides infinite repository space so there is even less excuse for journals to be unreadable. I give examples of how I attempted to improve one journal, despite external pressures and regardless of how it might affect the Impact Factor. As a postscript I outline increasing involvement in promoting honesty and integrity in publishing through the auspices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
医学期刊上的论文往往难以理解且读起来枯燥乏味。编辑的首要职责应是读者，应将可读性置于首位，而不仅仅是为整个科学界创建一个数据存储库。网络现在提供了无限的存储库空间，因此期刊难以读懂就更说不过去了。我举例说明我是如何试图改进一本期刊的，尽管面临外部压力，也不顾这可能对影响因子产生何种影响。作为后记，我概述了通过出版伦理委员会（COPE）的支持，我越来越多地参与到促进出版中的诚实和诚信方面的工作。
