You are providing medical writing support on a manuscript for which all non-industry authors are from a non-English-speaking country. The manuscript is written in English, but it is clear from the kick-off call that very few of the non-industry authors have a good understanding of English. The industry authors recommend that all communication goes through them so that they can interact with the non-industry authors in their local language and obtain their review feedback and approval. Although an appropriate level of comments is received throughout the manuscript’s development from industry authors, they indicate (usually within 24 hours of the start of each review) that all non-industry authors are happy with the content. You are now ready to initiate the author approval step but have concerns that the non-industry authors do not meet all the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship.
What Would You Do?
- Suggest that an independent third party, such as a translation service or local branch of the medical writing agency, become involved to document/capture the reviews up to now before proceeding to final approval
- Proceed with the final author approval step
- Work with the industry authors to obtain documentation of author reviews before proceeding to final approval
- Suggest that the final draft of the manuscript be translated into the local language for the final approval step
This poll is now closed. Poll results will be released in early-mid July.