Accountability, Audit, and Reverence for the Publication Process

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Abstract
Let me begin with a few truisms, just to be sure that we are operating on a common ground of reverence for the publication process —Above all, the act of publication is an inscription under oath, a testimony. It is accepted as valid until firm evidence to the contrary is presented. There is an extremely high level of accountability for what is published under a given person's name.... It is the essential ingredient to make scientific work responsible in the sense that one cannot readily retreat from assertions that have been signed, delivered to the printer, and made available to thousands!—Joshua Lederberg1 Having long subscribed to the approach that each author carries a heavy responsibility for what appears under his or her name, I had been impressed when several articles I had accepted for publication were later found by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) audit to be based on

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