© 2008 American Thoracic Society DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2008-0010ED
The ATS Journals' Policy on Image ManipulationEditor, AJRCCM
Editor, AJRCMB
Past Editor, AJRCMB
Editor, PATS Images of gels, radiographs, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, and other representative data sources are frequently shown in articles appearing in the ATS journals. A number of studies have shown that manipulation of images is disturbingly frequent, with as many as 20% of all published scientific manuscripts containing figures in which the presentation has been enhanced in some manner (1–3). Fraudulent manipulations are rare, occurring in an estimated 1% of articles, but can result in major misdirection of scientific investigation and effort. Our own recent survey of a random set of figures obtained from accepted articles to the AJRCMB found that approximately 23% of images had undergone some alteration, including erasure or filling in of parts of the background, splicing of bands from one gel into another, and "cloning," in which pixels are transferred from one area to another in a photo. Our instructions to authors for the AJRCCM and AJRCMB were changed in 2007 to note that while it is acceptable to adjust the brightness, contrast, or color balance of an image, this can only be done if such changes are applied to the whole image and as long as there is no misrepresentation of any information in the image (4). This language and approach is consistent with that of many other scientific journals, and permits authors to generate optimal quality figures demonstrating their primary data (2, 5). However, a major concern for us remains fraudulent manipulation of images that misrepresents the results of experiments. New software has become available that permits detection of image manipulation and is now being routinely and uniformly used in the evaluation of all figures from articles nearing acceptance at ATS journals, including AJRCCM, AJRCMB, and PATS (4, 6). The Editors are informed of all instances of image manipulation and will contact authors for explanation before publication if we have concerns that their data are not being impartially presented. We remind our authors that they should always keep and have access to their original unprocessed images to provide to the Editor upon request (cf. the image manipulation section of the Instructions for Contributors [http://www.thoracic.org/go/journals]) We understand that authors want to present high-quality figures that optimally show their data, and we have no issues with this approach. At the same time, we need to ensure that the information presented in the ATS journals is unbiased and appropriately represents the original experimental results. Our policy to analyze all images in accepted articles provides a high level of confidence that what the readership sees fairly and accurately presents the data generated in the authors' investigative setting. Footnotes This editorial is also published in the November 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. Conflict of Interest Statement: E.A. has no financial relationship with a commercial entity that has an interest in the subject of this manuscript. K.A. has served on an advisory board for Sepracor, Inc., for which he received $5,000 in 2007 and $5,000 in 2006; he has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hamner Institute for Health Sciences, for which he received $4,000 in 2007 and $2,000 in 2008; he received a research grant from Sepracor, Inc. for approximately $100,000 in 2008–2009. S.D.S. has served on advisory boards for GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer, Wyeth, and Novartis; he also serves as Editor of AJRCMB, which is compensated by ATS. A.R.L. is the head of GlaxoSmithKline Center of Excellence, a grant award through him to the University of Chicago; this is for investigator-initiated basic research and is in the amount of approximately $500,000 direct costs/year since 2000; he has a grant unrelated to this subject for $75,000 from Merck and Co. to investigate the cell biology of neutrophils; this work is in progress; he had a similar grant from Merck to perform studies in eosinophils 2 years previously for the same amount; he has received an honorarium on occasion in which he chaired or spoke at the Lund Conference for AstraZeneca (approximately $2,500); none of his papers or talks related to currently marketed products by any company. References
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