Suggested research topics include the following:
Existence of every sort of bias and efforts to eliminate biased reporting
Editorial and peer review decision making and responsibilities
- Mechanisms of peer review and editorial decision making used by journals and funders
- Evaluations of the quality, validity, and practicality of peer review and editorial decision making
- Quality assurance for reviewers and editors
- Editorial policies and responsibilities
- Editorial freedom and integrity
- Peer review of grant proposals
Research and publication ethics
- Ethical concerns for researchers, authors, reviewers, editors, publishers, and funders
- Authorship, contributorship, and responsibility for published material
- Conflicts of interest
- Research and publication misconduct
- Confidentiality
- Effects of funding and sponsorship on research and publication
- Influence of external stakeholders: funders, journal owners, advertisers/sponsors, policy makers, legal representatives, and the news media
Evaluations of and mechanisms for improving the quality of reporting
- Effectiveness of guidelines and standards designed to improve the quality of scientific publication
- Evaluations of the quality of print and online information
- Quality and reliability of data presentation and scientific images
- Quality and use of online supplemental content
- Quality and effectiveness of new forms of scientific articles
Models for peer review and scientific publication
- Online publication
- Open access
- Open peer review
- Data sharing and access
- Prepublication posting and release of information
- Postpublication review, communications, and influence
- Changes in readership and usage of peer-reviewed published content
- Presentation, enhancement, and quality of scientific information in multimedia and new media
- Quality, use, and effects of publication metrics and usage statistics
- Quality and influence of sponsored supplements and related media, gray literature, and other forms of publication
- Quality and effectiveness of content tagging, markup, and structures
- The future of scientific publication
Dissemination of scientific and scholarly information
- Methods for improving the quality, efficiency, and equitable distribution of biomedical information
- New technologies that affect the quality, integrity, dissemination, and access of biomedical information
- The impact of social networking and new media on science critique and dissemination
