ICMJE | Recommendations | Correspondence

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>ICMJE | Recommendations | Correspondence</title> <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0"> <link href="/css/normalize.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/css/styles.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet">    <html lang="en-GB">  <script type="text/javascript" src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="/js/jquery.placeholder.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/js/scripts.js" type="text/javascript"></script>  <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-45669522-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script>  </head> <body id="recommendations">  <header> <div class="container"> <div class="inner"> <a href="/"><div id="logo">ICMJE | International Committee of Medical Journal Editors</div></a>  <form id="search_form" method="get" action="/fcgi/search"> <div class="left"> <input type="text" id="search_form_input" class="form_field" name="q" size="21" maxlength="120" placeholder="Enter search terms"> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="arrow-left"></div> <input type="submit" value="Search" class="form_btn"> </div> </form>   <nav> <div id="nav_toggle"> <i class="icon-reorder icon-large icon-light"></i> </div> <ul> <li class="recommendations-link"><a href="/recommendations/">Recommendations</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li class="browse"><a href="/recommendations/browse/">Browse</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/">About the Recommendations</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/purpose-of-the-recommendations.html">Purpose of the Recommendations</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/who-should-use-the-recommendations.html">Who Should Use the Recommendations?</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/history-of-the-recommendations.html">History of the Recommendations</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/">Roles & Responsibilities</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html">Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html">Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/responsibilities-in-the-submission-and-peer-peview-process.html">Responsibilities in the Submission and Peer-Review Process</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/journal-owners-and-editorial-freedom.html">Journal Owners and Editorial Freedom</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html">Protection of Research Participants</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/">Publishing & Editorial Issues</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html">Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/scientific-misconduct-expressions-of-concern-and-retraction.html">Scientific Misconduct, Expressions of Concern, and Retraction</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/copyright.html">Copyright</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html">Overlapping Publications</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/correspondence.html">Correspondence</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/fees.html">Fees</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/supplements-theme-issues-and-special-series.html">Supplements, Theme Issues, and Special Series</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/sponsorship-or-partnership.html">Sponsorships and Partnerships</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/electronic-publishing.html">Electronic Publishing</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/advertising.html">Advertising</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/journals-and-the-media.html">Journals and the Media</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html">Clinical Trials</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/">Manuscript Preparation and Submission</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html">Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/sending-the-submission.html">Sending the Manuscript to the Journal</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/translations/">Translations</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/archives/">Archives</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/subscribe-to-changes/">Subscribe to Changes</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="conflicts-of-interest-link"><a href="/disclosure-of-interest/">Disclosure of Interest</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/disclosure-of-interest/translations/">Translations</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations-link larger"><a href="/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/">Journals <br/><small>Stating That They Follow the ICMJE Recommendations</small></a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/journal-listing-request-form/">Journal Listing Request Form</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="about-icmje-link"><a href="/about-icmje/">About ICMJE</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/about-icmje/contact-icmje/">Contact ICMJE</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/other-resources/">Other Resources</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/">FAQs</a> <ul> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/">Clinical Trials Registration</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-membership/">ICMJE Membership</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-recommendations/">ICMJE Recommendations ("The Uniform Requirements")</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/conflict-of-interest-disclosure-forms/">Disclosure Forms</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/miscellaneous/">Miscellaneous</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="news-link"><a href="/news-and-editorials/">News & Editorials</a></li> </ul> </nav> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </header>  <div id="content"> <div class="container">  <div id="main"> <div class="inner"> <div id="breadcrumbs"> <a href="/">Home</a> <i class="icon-angle-right"></i> <a href="../../">Recommendations</a> <i class="icon-angle-right"></i> <a href="../">Browse</a> <i class="icon-angle-right"></i> <a href="../publishing-and-editorial-issues">Publishing & Editorial Issues</a> <i class="icon-angle-right"></i> Correspondence </div> <h1>Correspondence</h1> <p>Medical journals should provide readers with a mechanism for submitting comments, questions, or criticisms about published articles, usually but not necessarily always through a correspondence section or online forum. The authors of articles discussed in correspondence or an online forum have a responsibility to respond to substantial criticisms of their work using those same mechanisms and should be asked by editors to respond. Authors of correspondence should be asked to declare any competing relationships or activities. </p> <p>Correspondence may be edited for length, grammatical correctness, and journal style. Alternatively, editors may choose to make available to readers unedited correspondence, for example, via an online commenting system. Such commenting is not indexed in MEDLINE unless it is subsequently published on a numbered electronic or print page. However the journal handles correspondence, it should make known its practice. In all instances, editors must make an effort to screen discourteous, inaccurate, or libellous comments. </p> <p>Responsible debate, critique and disagreement are important features of science, and journal editors should encourage such discourse ideally within their own journals about the material they have published. Editors, however, have the prerogative to reject correspondence that is irrelevant, uninteresting, or lacking cogency, but they also have a responsibility to allow a range of opinions to be expressed and to promote debate. </p> <p>In the interests of fairness and to keep correspondence within manageable proportions, journals may want to set time limits for responding to published material and for debate on a given topic. </p> <hr> <p><span class="badge">Next:</span> <a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/fees.html">Fees</a></p> </div> </div>  <div id="sidebar"> <div class="inner">  <nav> <div id="nav_toggle"> <i class="icon-reorder icon-large icon-light"></i> </div> <ul> <li class="recommendations-link"><a href="/recommendations/">Recommendations</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li class="browse"><a href="/recommendations/browse/">Browse</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/">About the Recommendations</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/purpose-of-the-recommendations.html">Purpose of the Recommendations</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/who-should-use-the-recommendations.html">Who Should Use the Recommendations?</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/history-of-the-recommendations.html">History of the Recommendations</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/">Roles & Responsibilities</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html">Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html">Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/responsibilities-in-the-submission-and-peer-peview-process.html">Responsibilities in the Submission and Peer-Review Process</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/journal-owners-and-editorial-freedom.html">Journal Owners and Editorial Freedom</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html">Protection of Research Participants</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/">Publishing & Editorial Issues</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html">Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/scientific-misconduct-expressions-of-concern-and-retraction.html">Scientific Misconduct, Expressions of Concern, and Retraction</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/copyright.html">Copyright</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html">Overlapping Publications</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/correspondence.html">Correspondence</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/fees.html">Fees</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/supplements-theme-issues-and-special-series.html">Supplements, Theme Issues, and Special Series</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/sponsorship-or-partnership.html">Sponsorships and Partnerships</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/electronic-publishing.html">Electronic Publishing</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/advertising.html">Advertising</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/journals-and-the-media.html">Journals and the Media</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html">Clinical Trials</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/">Manuscript Preparation and Submission</a> <ul> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html">Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/sending-the-submission.html">Sending the Manuscript to the Journal</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/recommendations/translations/">Translations</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/archives/">Archives</a></li> <li><a href="/recommendations/subscribe-to-changes/">Subscribe to Changes</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="conflicts-of-interest-link"><a href="/disclosure-of-interest/">Disclosure of Interest</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/disclosure-of-interest/translations/">Translations</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations-link larger"><a href="/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/">Journals <br/><small>Stating That They Follow the ICMJE Recommendations</small></a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/journal-listing-request-form/">Journal Listing Request Form</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="about-icmje-link"><a href="/about-icmje/">About ICMJE</a> <div class="arrow-down"></div> <ul class="submenu"> <li><a href="/about-icmje/contact-icmje/">Contact ICMJE</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/other-resources/">Other Resources</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/">FAQs</a> <ul> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/">Clinical Trials Registration</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-membership/">ICMJE Membership</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-recommendations/">ICMJE Recommendations ("The Uniform Requirements")</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/conflict-of-interest-disclosure-forms/">Disclosure Forms</a></li> <li><a href="/about-icmje/faqs/miscellaneous/">Miscellaneous</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="news-link"><a href="/news-and-editorials/">News & Editorials</a></li> </ul> </nav> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="promo"> <div class="inner"> <p><span class="badge"><i class="icon-envelope icon-large"></i> Keep up-to-date</span> <br>Request to receive an E-mail when the Recommendations are updated. </p> <p><a href="/recommendations/subscribe-to-changes/">Subscribe to Changes</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>  <div id="scroll_stop"></div> <footer> <div class="container"> <div class="inner"> <p> © 2024 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. All Rights Reserved.<br> <small>Site designed and hosted by <a href="http://www.annals.org" target="_blank">Annals of Internal Medicine</a> / <a href="http://www.acponline.org" target="_blank">American College of Physicians</a>.</small> </p> </div> </div> </footer> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

ICMJE | Recommendations | Correspondence