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The purpose of this article is to provide authors with insights gained from evidence and experience on how to handle rejected manuscripts.

Objectives Medical journals in Japan generally have appropriate policies regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest (COI). However, COI management depends on the staff members of each journal9s editorial secretariat. This study9s objectives were to find out (A) whether COI disclosure and the journal9s role in it are clearly understood by the journal’s secretariat staff, (B) how much experience the editorial secretariat has in actually handling issues related to disclosure and (C) what kind of help or support they need. Setting and design In January 2014, questionnaires were sent to the editorial secretariats of journal-publishing societies belonging to the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences (JAMS). Participants The response rate was 100%, and the respondents represented 121 journals published by the 118 JAMS member societies (at the time of the survey). Primary and secondary outcome measures Information was collected on the history of COI policies and on how those policies were implemented. At the end of the questionnaire, there was an open-ended call for comments. Results Compulsory COI disclosure began between 2010 and 2013 for 60.3% of the journals (73/121). Handling of COI issues was not uniform: 17.4% (21/121) of respondents do not pursue cases of dubious disclosure, and 47.9% (58/121) do not require COI disclosures from editorial board members. Very few of the editorial secretariats had clearly-stated consequences for violations of COI-disclosure policy (33/121, 27.3%), and only 28.9% offered COI education (35/121). Respondents’ comments indicated that uniform, easily-searchable guidance regarding COI policies and implementation would be welcome. Conclusions Although commitment is widespread, policy implementation is inconsistent and COI experience is lacking. Clear, easy-to-use guidelines are desired by many societies. The JAMS is to be commended for supporting this country-wide investigation; other countries and regions are encouraged to perform similar investigations to respond to needs regarding COI management.

Although the importance both of skills in medical writing in English and of an understanding of ethics in medical publishing is increasingly recognised, these subjects are not comprehensively taught to Japanese medical doctors and students. Limited resources, teaching staff, and time prevent most Japanese medical schools from implementing standard educational programmes on these topics. To address this, we developed two brief but intensive programmes of lectures and group-based workshops, each incorporating both medical writing skills and publication ethics; one was for Japanese postgraduate medical students, the other for faculty development. The main topics in the programme for postgraduate students were the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, and oral and poster presentation skills. The programme emphasised the importance of medical writing skills and of issues, such as authorship and conflict of interest. The faculty development programme covered handling communications with editors and reviewers after manuscript submission, as well as ethical misconduct issues. We believe these programmes provide a unique and effective means of enhancing awareness of publication ethics and improving medical writing skills among professionals in Japanese healthcare institutions.

Background Globalization of the professions has become a necessity among schools and universities across the world. It has affected the medical and dental professions in terms of curriculum design and student and patient needs. In Japan, where medicine and dentistry are taught mainly in the Japanese language, profession-based courses in English, known as Medical English and Dental English, have been integrated into the existing curriculum among its 83 medical and 29 dental schools. Unfortunately, there is neither a core curriculum nor a model syllabus for these courses. Methods This report is based on a survey, two discussion forums, a workshop, and finally, the drafting of a proposed core curriculum for dental English approved by consensus of the participants from each university. Results The core curriculum covers the theoretical aspects, including dental English terms and oral pathologies; and practical aspects, including blended learning and dentist-patient communication. It is divided into modules and is recommended to be offered for at least two semesters. Conclusions The core curriculum is expected to guide curriculum developers in schools where dental English courses are yet to be offered or are still in their early development. It may also serve as a model curriculum to medical and dental schools in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central and South America, where English is not the medium of instruction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-014-0239-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A new endoscopic drug delivery system was developed by the authors. This system allows for drugs in the form of solid pills, grains, and powders to be delivered to target sites using an air gun propulsion system. Following initial in vitro trials, in vivo studies were performed on dogs, using steel pills, grains of activated carbon, and of sucralfate, and bovine thrombin powder. The depth of pill penetration increased linearly with increases in air pressure. The extent of grain distribution increased in relation to the distance from the tip of the endoscope to the target. Propulsion pressures over certain thresholds (which varied according to the materials propelled) produced bleeding in the stomach wall, but no clearly observed ulceration was observed at any of the pressures tested. The targets were adequately covered by the grains and powder. This drug delivery system shows promise for the treatment of malignant lesions, ulcers and bleeding, and other applications where localized delivery, of drugs is indicated.