GPP 2022: perspectives, sentiments, and feedback from the publications community

To identify the impact and integration of GPP 2022 guidelines on the work processes of publications developed in pharmaceutical, publishing, agency, and academic circles.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 3 weeks from March 1-22, 2024 among medical publication professionals and healthcare researchers. The survey included questions that have been traditionally challenging in publication workstreams and were disseminated through major medical communications networking groups. The survey results were summarized as a percentage for each answer rounded to one decimal place.

A total of 100 participants responded to the survey among whom 67.0% were familiar with the GPP 2022 guidelines. To mitigate potential misinterpretation risks, we considered only respondents familiar with the guidelines. More than half of the respondents (55.7%) felt that GPP 2022 was effective in addressing ethical considerations; 34.4% respondents agreed that GPP 2022 provided useful guidance on best practices in transparency and data-sharing. Most survey respondents (54.5%) agreed that the authorship and contributorship criteria were clear in GPP 2022. 37.3% of the survey respondents were familiar with publication extenders and felt that extenders added value to the dissemination of research findings; 39.2% were aware of plain-language summaries and 82.4% viewed them as vital for widespread research accessibility.

The survey suggests a need to improve awareness and support for implementing transparency initiatives that aid in the publication process. Furthermore, although most respondents were aware of publication extenders, there was a need for clarification and harmonization of guidelines on publication extenders.