Researchers must share data to ensure publication in top journals

Doctors wishing to publish in the world’s leading medical journals will have to share their data as a condition of publication, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has said.

In a joint editorial published in The BMJ and 13 other journals the editors said that because patients have put themselves at risk by taking part in trials researchers have an “ethical obligation” to share data.1

The editors, from journals in Europe, the …