Good Publication Practice (GPP)

Good Publication Practice (GPP) is a named, industry-authored set of ethics guidelines for planning, writing, and publishing company-sponsored biomedical research -- primarily pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device studies. It is maintained by a GPP Steering Committee working with ISMPP (the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals) and published as a peer-reviewed article in Annals of Internal Medicine. The current version is GPP 2022, which superseded GPP3 (2015); GPP3 itself superseded the original GPP2 (2009) and GPP (2003). A study, manuscript, or publication process is GPP-compliant when: authorship is assigned strictly against ICMJE's four authorship criteria (not honorary, guest, or ghost authorship); the funding source and the sponsor's role in study design, analysis, and the decision to publish are disclosed; any professional medical writer's involvement is named and their support disclosed, typically in the acknowledgements; named authors have full access to the data (or a summary sufficient to vouch for it) and control over interpretation and the final decision to publish; and there is a documented intent to publish results regardless of outcome, including negative or inconclusive findings.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 18 Jul 2026

Worked examples

Is an instance

A pharmaceutical sponsor funds a phase III trial and engages a professional medical writer to prepare the first manuscript draft under direction from the named academic and industry investigators. The writer's contribution and funding source are disclosed in the acknowledgements, the sponsor's role in study design and data analysis is stated in the methods, and every named author meets ICMJE's four authorship criteria -- consistent with GPP 2022's authorship and disclosure recommendations.

Is an instance

A sponsor establishes a publication plan at trial initiation that commits to submitting results for publication or presentation regardless of outcome, and a study that produced a null result is still written up and submitted rather than left unpublished -- the publication-planning and non-suppression principle GPP has carried since its earliest versions.

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance

A sponsor's medical writer drafts a manuscript's key sections but is not named in the acknowledgements or disclosed anywhere in the paper, and the named academic authors did not have full access to the underlying data before approving the final version. This is ghost authorship and a direct violation of GPP's authorship and disclosure requirements, not a borderline case.

Good Publication Practice (GPP) is a specific, named set of publication-ethics guidelines for company-sponsored biomedical research, distinct from general publication-ethics norms. It is not issued by a journal-editor body like ICMJE or a cross-publisher body like COPE; it is developed by a GPP Steering Committee working in collaboration with ISMPP (the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals), the professional association for medical publication and communication professionals, and published as a peer-reviewed article in Annals of Internal Medicine.

GPP3 vs. GPP 2022 — which version is current

GPP has gone through several named revisions: the original GPP (2003), GPP2 (2009), GPP3 (2015), and the current version, GPP 2022 (published August 2022, DOI 10.7326/M22-1460), which formally supersedes GPP3 (DOI 10.7326/M15-0288). Content written or dated before mid-2022 that references “GPP3” is describing the prior version; GPP 2022 is the version to cite going forward, though “GPP3” remains widely used informally as shorthand for the framework generally. GPP 2022 kept GPP3’s core structure but added explicit guidance on publication alliances between sponsors, professional societies, and patient involvement in publications, expanded guidance on plain-language summaries and social media dissemination of peer-reviewed findings, and updated policy-and-procedure recommendations for sponsor publication practices.

Who GPP applies to

GPP is written primarily for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device companies that sponsor clinical and other biomedical research, and for the medical writers, publication professionals, and academic/industry investigators who work on the resulting manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations. It is voluntary guidance rather than a regulatory requirement, but many sponsor companies adopt it as internal policy, and journals in therapeutic areas with heavy industry sponsorship frequently expect submissions to reflect its principles.

Core requirements

Authorship aligned with ICMJE. GPP does not define its own authorship standard; it requires that authorship on sponsor-funded publications be assigned strictly per ICMJE’s four criteria, and explicitly prohibits honorary/guest authorship (naming someone who did not meet the criteria) and ghost authorship (omitting someone who did).
Disclosure of funding and sponsor role. The funding source and the sponsor’s involvement in study design, data analysis, interpretation, and the decision to publish must be stated in the manuscript.
Disclosed, named medical-writing support. Professional medical writers may legitimately draft and edit manuscripts under author direction; GPP requires their involvement be disclosed and, in most journal conventions, named in the acknowledgements. Disclosed writing support is not a violation of publication ethics — undisclosed support is.
Author access to data. Named authors must have (or be able to obtain) access to the data sufficient to vouch for the integrity and interpretation of the results, not merely sign off on a sponsor-prepared summary.
Commitment to publish regardless of outcome. Sponsors are expected to have a publication plan that does not suppress unfavorable or inconclusive results.

Relationship to Ghost Authorship

GPP is one of the primary frameworks cited when defining and preventing ghost authorship: undisclosed, ICMJE-eligible contribution to a manuscript by someone not listed as an author or named in the acknowledgements. Ghost authorship is the ethics violation; GPP is the industry-side compliance framework that specifies how to avoid it — primarily through disclosure of medical-writing support (see medical writer contribution) and strict ICMJE-based authorship assignment. A manuscript can follow GPP’s disclosure and authorship steps and still be evaluated by a journal or institution against ICMJE criteria directly; the two are complementary rather than competing standards.

Where to find it

GPP 2022 is published open access: DeTora LM, Toroser D, Sykes A, et al. “Good Publication Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Company-Sponsored Biomedical Research: 2022 Update.” Annals of Internal Medicine. 2022. DOI: 10.7326/M22-1460. The predecessor, GPP3 (Battisti WP, Wager E, Baltzer L, et al., Annals of Internal Medicine, 2015, DOI: 10.7326/M15-0288), remains useful as historical context but should not be cited as current guidance.

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

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Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

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