Data Sharing: A New Editorial Initiative of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Implications for the Editors´ Network

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations to improve the editorial standards and scientific quality of biomedical journals. These recommendations range from uniform technical requirements to more complex and elusive editorial issues including ethical aspects of the scientific process. Recently, registration of clinical trials, conflicts of interest disclosure, and new criteria for authorship - emphasizing the importance of responsibility and accountability-, have been proposed. Last year, a new editorial initiative to foster sharing of clinical trial data was launched. This review discusses this novel initiative with the aim of increasing awareness among readers, investigators, authors and editors belonging to the Editors´ Network of the European Society of Cardiology. Resumo O Comite Internacional de Editores de Revistas Medicas (ICMJE) fornece recomendacoes para aprimorar o padrao editorial e a qualidade cientifica das revistas biomedicas. Tais recomendacoes variam desde requisitos tecnicos de uniformizacao ate assuntos editoriais mais complexos e elusivos, como os aspectos eticos do processo cientifico. Recentemente, foram propostos registro de ensaios clinicos, divulgacao de conflitos de interesse e novos criterios de autoria, enfatizando a importância da responsabilidade e da responsabilizacao. No ultimo ano, lancou-se uma nova iniciativa editorial para fomentar o compartilhamento dos dados de ensaios clinicos. Esta revisao discute essa nova iniciativa visando a aumentar a conscientizacao de leitores, investigadores, autores e editores filiados a Rede de Editores da Sociedade Europeia de Cardiologia