Summary
As the Editors of leading international biomedical informatics journals, the authors
report on a recent pattern of improper manuscript submissions to journals in our field.
As a guide for future authors, we describe ethical and pragmatic issues related to
submitting work for peer-reviewed journal publication. We propose a coordinated approach
to the problem that our respective journals will follow. This Editorial is being jointly
published in the following journals represented by the authors: Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, and Methods of Information in Medicine.