Update to How We Write About Race in Manuscripts

Writing a medical publication? Be sure that you follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Guidance [http://www.icmje.org/], the gold-standard.

In May 2022, the ICMJE guidance (Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals) was updated and one of the changes pertained to how we write about race. Below are the main points from this update:

1. Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance

2. If race/ethnicity data were not collected, there should be an explanation why

3. Race/ethnicity are social constructions and not biological; as such, authors need to interpret race/ethnicity data in this context

4. Authors should use neutral, precise, and respectful language to describe study participants and avoid the use of terminology that might stigmatize participants

At Acumen we have seen our share of challenges around race/ethnicity data, including an entire Phase 2 clinical study which had virtually no race and ethnicity data; the study was conducted in France, which requires a separate consent form to obtain these data. In the cases where data are compiled or pooled from sites, these differences in data collection can pose challenges and require clear explanation.

Justin McLaughlin, CEO