This month the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) updated its “Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.” (ICMJE is a working group of medical journal editors who meet annually to review the guidelines.)

Most nursing journal editors follow these recommendations, so it’s important to know what they include. Here’s a summary of some of the key updates.

Predatory journals

Predatory journals remain a serious problem. These journals have poor publication practices, such as falsely claiming to perform peer review. The updated ICMJE recommendations add an excellent resource: an editorial titled “Predatory journals: What can we do to protect their prey?” The editorial outlines steps for each group of stakeholders—authors, institutions and funders, and journal editors and publishers.

The editorial advises authors to remain vigilant when choosing a journal because no comprehensive, accurate list of predatory journals currently exists. The ThinkCheckSubmit.org website has a handy checklist for evaluating journals. In addition, the editorial notes that some predatory journals mimic legitimate ones, so when receiving an unsolicited email to contribute an article, authors should check the email address and URLs to see if they match the legitimate journal.

Journal responsiveness and inclusivity

Authors who’ve experienced frustration when they feel journal editors aren’t responding to their correspondence can take heart from this sentence: “Journals should respond to authors’ requests about the status of their manuscript in a timely manner.” Of course, “timely manner” is in the eye of the beholder, but at least it encourages editors to respond promptly.

In addition, the updated recommendations state that even if authors who requested that their manuscript be withdrawn don’t receive confirmation from the journal, they can consider it to be withdrawn.

Finally, when publishing images of people, it’s important to think about “dignity, equality, and solidarity.” For example, images should not reinforce stereotypes.

Corrections

The revised section on corrections notes that they’re needed for “errors of act that should have been recognized at the time of publication.” Adding reference to “at the time of publication” clarifies that issues that are debatable and changes in science and method aren’t errors. Those items are best handled in forums such as letters to the editor.

Authors’ reference responsibility

The updated recommendations clearly state that authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of reference citations and for ensuring the citations support the associated statement. I think this is a great point: When editing an article, too often I’ve looked up a reference only to find that it doesn’t accurately reflect what is in the text.

I’ve given you a bird’s eye view of the new recommendations, so it’s a good idea to review the annotated version too.

Happy writing!

Hi, I’m Cynthia Saver, MS, RN, owner of CLS Development, which provides writing and editing services, and editor of Anatomy of Writing for Publication for Nurses, 4^th ed. I’m also past editorial director for American Nurse Journal.

I’ve been a full-time professional nurse writer and editor for many years, and that doesn’t count the writing I did as I fulfilled my nursing roles in clinical, research, education, and management. My passion is helping nurses share their expertise through the written word, including, but not limited to, publication. Writing can be scary and intimidating. I hope to make it less so and to help you develop your writing skills the same way you’ve developed your nursing skills.

Whether you’re considering your first or your 50^th publication, want to contribute to your organization’s newsletter, or crave to be a better communicator online and in print, I hope you’ll find what I write helpful. The nurse publishing colleagues I’ve learned from over the years (many of whom are contributors to my book) may not be listed by name, but I’m grateful for their willingness to share. In that spirit, I’m looking forward to sharing with you! If you have feedback, feel free to email me at csaver57@gmail.com.

Reference

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. 2025. icmje.org/recommendations/