Conflicts of Interest and Other Ethical Problems in
German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
COPE European Seminar 2014 –
European Perspectives on Publication Ethics
Brussels, March 14
Christopher Baethge, MD
Chief Scientific Editor
Deutsches Ärzteblatt and Deutsches Ärzteblatt International
Cologne, Germany
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of other ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi forms
– a study at three German journals
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi forms
– a study at three German journals
Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Journal of the
o German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer) +
o National Association of Statutory Health Insurance
Physicians (Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung)
44 issues per year, approx. 60 pages each
2/3 medicopolitical news magazine, 1/3 scientific journal
Circulation: 440.000
Webpage (aerzteblatt.de) with > 1 million visits/month
Large job market
All content accessible free of charge via aerzteblatt.de
Science section published in German and English (full
texts) as Deutsches Ärzteblatt International
DAI indexed in Embase, Medline, WoS, current IF: 3,542
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of other ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi forms
– a study at three German journals
Baethge, C
The Languages of Medicine
Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(3): 37-40, DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2008.0037
The strong position of native languages in medical
publishing – the example of German
Survey among 300 doctors in private practice: 69% consider it
„important“ or “very important” that review articles and
tutorial material are published in German (Ruf et al. 2008)
Among 6800 periodicals subscribed by the German Library of
Medicine (Cologne), 1550 are in German, 1236 of which are
journals in the strict sense (18,1%): there are more than 1100
German language medical journals not listed in Medline
There are 74 German-language journals addressing
psychiatrists alone, ten of them general psychiatry journals
(Heidenreich & Baethge 2012)
Number of individual subscribers to the British Medical
Journal in Germany: 164 (G. Balasubramaniam, London,
personal communication)
Gulbrandsen et al. 2002; JAMA 287; 2851-3
Randomized study: comprehension of an article published by the Journal of
Trauma; English and native language versions
N=114 scandinavian general practicioners, randomized to English and one of four
languages(and to screen or paper)
46% reported to read one English language article per week
Language preference: native language vs. Englisch: 85% vs. 15%
Baethge C. The production and recognition of psychiatric original articles
published in languages other than English. BMC Psychiatry 2013; 13:102
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Advantage: There is one common language!
Hundreds of medical journals in German
o Narrative reviews, editorials, research summaries
o No RCTs and systematic reviews
Problems for German readers and authors
o English more difficult to understand and to write
o No exposure to RCTs or to systematic reviews
Solutions for journals
o Switch to English as language of publication
o Bilingual publishing
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of other ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi forms
– a study at three German journals
Examples of other ethical problems
Authorship issues
o undetected:
unattributed medical writers, honorary authorships,
unacknowledged researchers?
o detected:
author addition late in the process (denied), disputes
among authors (sometimes leading to rejection or
withdrawal)
Plagiarism
oundetected: ?
odetected:
mostly self-plagiarism
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of other ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi
forms – a study at three German journals
Coi forms and positive coi declarations at three
different German journals
New ICMJE coi form in 2010 established
Adaptation and translation, start at DÄ in February 2011
No changes at Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift and
Der Nervenarzt
Non-randomized, controlled pre-post design:
o Positive coi statements 2012 vs. 2010 by journal
o Positive coi statements in 2012 and 2010 among all
journals
Baethge C. The effect of a conflict of interest disclosure form using closed
questions on the number of conflicts of interests declared. A controlled study.
PeerJ 2013; 128, DOI 10.7717/PeerJ.128
coi form Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift
coi form Nervenarzt: corresponding author is requested to report
all cois as defined in the box
Coi forms and positive coi declarations at three
different German journals
New ICMJE coi form in 2010 established
Adaptation and translation, start at DÄ in February 2011
No changes at Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift and
Der Nervenarzt
Non-randomized, controlled pre-post design:
o Positive coi statements 2012 vs. 2010 by journal
o Positive coi statements in 2012 and 2010 among all
journals
Coi forms and positive coi declarations at three
different German journals
New ICMJE coi form in 2010 established
Adaptation and translation, start at DÄ in February 2011
No changes at Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift and
Der Nervenarzt
Non-randomized, controlled pre-post design:
o Positive coi statements 2012 vs. 2010 by journal
o Positive coi statements in 2012 and 2010 among all
journals
Result:
Association between new coi form (closed
questions) and percentage of positive coi
statements on both author and article level
20% vs. 40% and 30% vs. 70% at Deutsches
Ärzteblatt
Baethge C. The effect of a conflict of interest disclosure form using closed
questions on the number of conflicts of interests declared. A controlled study.
PeerJ 2013; 128, DOI 10.7717/PeerJ.128
Ethical Problems in German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Outline
The journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Publishing in German when the lingua franca is English
Examples of other ethical problems
o Authorship issues
o Plagiarism
o Conflicts of interest (coi)
Different rates of positive coi declarations in different coi forms
– a study at three German journals
Conflicts of Interest and Other Ethical Problems in
German Medical Publishing –
the Perspective of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
COPE European Seminar 2014 –
European Perspectives on Publication Ethics
Brussels, March 14
Christopher Baethge, MD
Chief Scientific Editor
Deutsches Ärzteblatt and Deutsches Ärzteblatt International
Cologne, Germany
Baethge, C
The Languages of Medicine
Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(3): 37-40, DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2008.0037
