BMJ editorial policies
BMJ editorial policies
The BMJ has several specific editorial policies covering topics such as ethics in research and publication, transparency, scientific misconduct, patient confidentiality, use of images, competing interests, copyright, libel, and open access. Please ensure that you read these - which you can access using the index on the left - before submitting your article.
Editors' duty of confidentiality to authors
BMJ editors treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents, which means they will not divulge information about a manuscript to anyone without the authors' permission. During the process of manuscript review the following people may also have access to manuscripts:
- editors and editorial staff at the BMJ, including medical students on placement and occasional overseas visitors - usually doctors or editors from other journals
- external reviewers, including statisticians and experts in trial methods
- members of the journal's editorial committees, comprising the final stage in our peer review process for original research articles
- the only occasion when details about a manuscript might be passed to a third party without the authors’ permission is if the editor suspects serious research misconduct—see below.
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