Review article
Conflict of Interest for Editor: Sweet and Sad Choices
Matko Marušić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5562-1777
; Split University School of Medicine, Šoltanska 2, Split, Croatia
Abstract
On June 4, 2009, I was elected Dean of the University of
Split School of Medicine, to take office at October 1, 2009.
Since the University of Split School of Medicine is one of
the 4 owners of the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ), I have
found myself in an awkward position of becoming the
owner of the journal I edit. To resolve this conflict of interest,
I will take a leave of absence from the position of the
editor during my service as the dean. The following is the
story of how I came to make both a sweet and a sad decision
after 17 years of my editorial life.
The founders
My dream as an academic was to create in Croatia a good
journal which would present the medical research in the
region. This dream came true with the start of the war in
1991 (1). As I was active researcher in immunology at the
time, my initial idea was to help create a journal but, to
my surprise, nobody wanted to be its editor. The dean at
that time, Prof. Mate Granić, talked me into taking the position
and promised to take care of the finances, and I talked
him into joining as the co-editor. Prof. Granić soon went
into politics to become the vice-president of the Croatian
government, did not have time to take care of the journal
finances, and stepped down after a year (2). The journal
survived in the middle of the war and continued its growth
with the support and dedication of many colleagues in the
country and abroad (1).
The editors
In 1994, upon the wise insisting of the CMJ’s Editorial
Board member Prof. Eduard Klain, Prof. Ana Marušić became
the co-editor in chief (3) and brought prosperity
to the journal in its every aspect. As a volunteer copyeditor,
desk-top editor, field worker (1991 was the time
of war), peace-worker, anatomist, and co-editor, she took
over the international relations of the journal and turned it
into a respected international publication. Some called the
CMJ “Marušić’s Publishing” to poke fun at the husband and
wife working as co-editors (plus my brother Joško Marušić,
the artist who made our first cover design and our Christmas
cards, ref. 4), forgetting that our work was, and still is,
fully volunteer.
The owners
The CMJ used an author-helpful policy to build up a critical
mass of researchers with skills in responsible research, data
presentation, and research communication in Croatia and
other emerging and developing countries (5-7). The journal
became the door for them to join the global scientific
community and the window for the global science to see
good research from the so called “scientific periphery” (8).
The CMJ was started as a volunteer effort of a group of academics,
without any framework for its official functioning.
Learning from the experiences of editors of large and influential
journals who lost their editorial positions defending
editorial independence (3), we constructed the legal
framework of the journal, naming all 4 medical schools in
Croatia as the CMJ’s owners and ensuring the independence
of the journal (9). The choice of medical schools for
journal owners was logical because the journal’s primary
function was, and has remained, that of education and
training in the academic and research community (5,6).
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
41341
URI
Publication date:
15.8.2009.
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