Editorial: Ensuring standards in publication ethics

Increasingly, issues of violation of publication ethics have been detected in nursing academic publications (Pierson 2014). This form of misconduct does not only compromise scientific integrity, it may also be detrimental to patient care. Through acceptance of internationally recognised standards, the 'Journal of Clinical Nursing', implements the highest possible standard of publication ethics to ensure that the public and nursing professionals can trust and have confidence in the literature that we publish. In return, for clear and comprehensive guidance, we expect authors who choose to submit their manuscripts to 'Journal of Clinical Nursing' to be aware of our publication ethics policies, at the very least to the point of reading and adhering to the instructions for authors' guidelines. Disappointingly, experience tells us that not all authors follow this practice. Several non-statutory bodies provide helpful guidance in relation to publication ethics, including the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The recent publication of 'Wiley's revised Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics' provides further direction about what is and what is not ethically acceptable when publishing a paper.