Thieme Stresses Importance of Publishers’ Role in Defending the Independence of Science

Thieme Publishing Group, one of the major providers of medical and health publications, media and services, strongly advocates the freedom of scientific inquiry and publication. The publisher also underlines this commitment by contributing to the current campaign launched by the German Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). In an editorial published in various English-language Thieme journals, Dr. Daniel Schiff, Senior Vice President of Thieme Group’s U.S. subsidiary Thieme Publishers, stresses the key role publishers play in distributing high-quality, peer-reviewed academic information. 

Academic publishers, Dr. Schiff says, are responsible for coordinating the process of knowledge preparation and distribution. New scientific insights are evaluated and selected through professional review processes, including peer-review, before they are edited, didactically enhanced, and processed for publication in renowned academic journals. In addition, publishers ensure the promotion as well as systematic distribution and archiving of these results in cooperation with academic libraries and multiple other partners. In his editorial published in numerous Thieme journals, Schiff states: “In these activities we help build, protect and conserve the integrity of the corpus of scientific knowledge.”

Dr. Schiff also stresses the importance of marking and defending the line between corroborated facts and unconfirmed claims, saying that “we have and will continue to validate and distribute peer-reviewed data and content, whether consistent or not with assumed truths. In these uncertain times, these are values which always need defending.”

In more than 150 journals, Thieme Publishing Group provides regular updates on the latest research and practical insights.

For the full text of Daniel Schiff’s editorial, please visit: https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0037-1600097