The author who wasn't there? Fairness and attribution in publications following access to population biobanks

Developing Policy for the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative: Going from National to International

Background: Scientific research is becoming an increasingly collaborative and global venture. The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI), for instance, is an international Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research collaboration developed to address the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases around the world. It comprises four separate but harmonized cohort trials in Canada, China, India, and South Africa. These cohorts will generate rich data and biosample sets that can be shared both within the HeLTI Consortium and with other researchers from around the world. Methods: To ensure the coordination and operation of these types of collaborative research initiatives, a standardized and harmonized governance model is required to regulate the processes and interactions between all involved actors. To develop the governance models, frameworks and related policies from other longitudinal cohort studies and biobanks were used, as were guidance documents on biobank and database governance and relevant literature on data and biobank governance. Results: This article outlines the key components of the governance model for the HeLTI Consortium, including management of the cohorts' respective databases and biobanks, access to data and biosamples, and considerations related to intellectual property and publications. Conclusion: Governance within international collaborative research ventures is critical to ensure the operations and benefits of these types of research apparatuses. Although this article focuses on the HeLTI Consortium as a model, it may nonetheless serve as a model for both current and future collaborative consortium-based research initiatives. Clinical Trial Registration Numbers: Canada, ISRCTN13308752; China, ChiCTR1800017773; India, ISRCTN20161479; South Africa, PACTR201903750173871.

Governance of Access in Biobanking: The Case of Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks

The discussion concerning the measure of the quality of a biobank should focus not only on the number of stored samples and their quality but also on the assessment of their access arrangements and governance. This article aims at contributing to the ongoing debate on samples and data access governance in biobanking by presenting the case of the Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks (TNGB). We attempt to contribute to the need for clear and available access criteria and harmonization in access arrangements to maximize the influence of biobanks in the progress of biomedical research. We reviewed all the sample requests submitted to the TNGB from 2008 to 2020, focusing on those rejected by the Access Committee and the reasons behind the rejections. The analysis of the reasons behind the rejected requests allowed us to analyze how those relate to the issues of scientific misconduct, prioritization, and noncompliance with the biobank's mission. We discuss those issues in light of the actions and motivations used by TNGB in the access decision-making process. Based on this analysis, we suggest that a cross-implementation of a checklist for access assessment would improve the whole access process, ensuring a more transparent and smoother governance. Finally, we conclude that the TNGB's Charter and approach toward access governance could contribute as an important reference point to deal with the issues that have emerged in the international discussion on the topic.

Building Research Support Capacity across Human Health Biobanks during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Human health biobanks are forms of research infrastructure that supply biospecimens and associated data to researchers, and therefore juxtapose the activities of clinical care and biomedical research. The discipline of biobanking has existed for over 20 years and is supported by several international professional societies and dedicated academic journals. However, despite both rising research demand for human biospecimens, and the growth of biobanking as an academic discipline, many individual biobanks continue to experience sustainability challenges. This commentary will summarize how the COVID-19 pandemic is creating new challenges and opportunities for both the health biobanking sector and the supporting discipline of biobanking. While the challenges for biobanks may be numerous and acute, there are opportunities for both individual biobanks and the discipline of biobanking to embrace change such that biobanks can continue to support and drive biomedical research. We will therefore describe numerous practical steps that individual biobanks and/or the discipline of biobanking can take to survive and possibly thrive in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

No room for ambiguity: The concepts of appropriate and inappropriate authorship in scientific publications

Authorship is the currency of an academic career. Scientific publications have significant academic and financial implications. Several standard authorship guidelines exist, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) is the most popular amongst them. There are increasing concerns about the ethics of publications with the rise of inappropriate authorship. The most important reason appears to be a lack of knowledge and awareness of the authorship guidelines and what actions constitute unethical behaviors. There is a need to incorporate standard guidelines in medical curricula and conduct structured training and education programs for researchers across the board. The current perspective describes the significant concepts of appropriate and inappropriate authorship, and the possible measures being formulated to shape the future of authorship.

Open science precision medicine in Canada: Points to consider

Open science can significantly influence the development and translational process of precision medicine in Canada. Precision medicine presents a unique opportunity to improve disease prevention and healthcare, as well as to reduce health-related expenditures. However, the development of precision medicine also brings about economic challenges, such as costly development, high failure rates, and reduced market size in comparison with the traditional blockbuster drug development model. Open science, characterized by principles of open data sharing, fast dissemination of knowledge, cumulative research, and cooperation, presents a unique opportunity to address these economic challenges while also promoting the public good.

The Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University organized a stakeholders’ workshop in Montreal in March 2018. The workshop entitled “Could Open be the Yellow Brick Road to Precision Medicine?” provided a forum for stakeholders to share experiences and identify common objectives, challenges, and needs to be addressed to promote open science initiatives in precision medicine. The rich presentations and exchanges that took place during the meeting resulted in this consensus paper containing key considerations for open science precision medicine in Canada. Stakeholders would benefit from addressing these considerations as to promote a more coherent and dynamic open science ecosystem for precision medicine.