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How a review in Prescrire is produced

Prescrire's reviews are produced through a complex, collective editing process, which has been fine-tuned over the years. The absence of any direct or indirect financial links to the phramaceutical industry is an absolute requirement to be a member of the Prescrire editorial team. 

With a very few exceptions (which are clearly indicated) the reviews published in Prescrire are all written and edited entirely by Prescrire’s Editorial Staff.

Rédacteur PrescrireAlmost all of Prescrire’s editors are doctors, pharmacists, nurses or dentists, most of whom spend a large part of their working time in active clinical practice. They have all received in-house training over a long period in Prescrire’s editorial production process. The absence of any direct or indirect financial links to the pharmaceutical industry is an absolute requirement to be a member of the Prescrire team. 

A collective editorial process
For each section, the choice of proposed articles is made collectively by a group of editors. The editors work with Prescrire’s information search specialists to devise a literature search strategy. An exceptionally large number of persons are involved in rereading Prescrire’s articles. Groups of 10 to 40 reviewers are specially put together for each text, bringing together outside specialists, Prescrire editors and individuals representative of Prescrire’s readership. An editor is put in charge of each proposed subject, backed up by a referring editor. The choice of the word “editor” rather than “author” serves to underscore the collective nature of the way that Prescrire’s texts are produced. For the same reason, texts are signed collectively “Prescrire”.  

Adapting Prescrire’s reviews for an international audience
Prescrire International publishes translations of selected articles from the French edition. The translation process is perfectly in line with the collective editorial procedures which have guaranteed the quality of the French edition over the years. 

Budget
The cost of this production process is entirely financed by Prescrire’s subscribers, all of whom pay for their subscriptions (see the financial report published each year in the May issue). The cost is in keeping with what it buys: the guarantee of the most reliable information possible. 

©Prescrire 1 February 2012

"How a review in Prescrire is produced" Prescrire Int 2012; 21 (124): iv. (Pdf, free).
Download the full review.
Pdf, free

Prescrire's complex,
collective editing process
has been fine-tuned
over the years
(April 2009)
Free

How a review in
Prescrire is produced
(June 2008)
Pdf, free