I always feel a little sad when the Easter break comes to an end – I generously gave myself time off working from the whole of Good Friday through to Easter Monday, and just enjoyed the great outdoors and spring sunshine. It’s my favourite holiday: so much more uplifting than the fierce commercialism, dreary darkness and biting cold at Christmas.
So I’m back at my desk and sniffing the air to see what’s changed, and I’m reminded that the International Society of Medical Publishing Professionals (ISMPP) will soon be holding its annual meeting in Washington DC, during 20–22 April. As a former ISMPP member, I had good times participating in the European meeting, and you can get a brief insight into what attendees gain from ISMPP Europe in this short video summary: https://thepublicationplan.com/2026/03/12/video-ismpp-europe-2026-key-insights/.
I would be very surprised if there was no discussion at ISMPP of the updated 2026 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, released in January. You can get your copy from https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf; the main changes are a new section on AI usage by authors, editors and reviewers; updates to statements on clinical trial registration and data access by authors, listing of funding sources and affiliations and where to find guidance on retractions. Speaking of compliance and integrity, Nature recently published a feature article on how to spot fraudulent manuscripts, with tips on detecting dodgy author details, falsified data and text that has squirmed to avoid anti-plagiarism software (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00569-x).
Finally, I want to point you to Thad McIlroy’s sideways glance at the London Book Fair publishing rights trading event that took place in March, and his bewildering encounter with a street poet who just wanted three words (https://thefutureofpublishing.com/2026/03/what-if-none-of-this-matters/).
The poet is welcome to have three words from me: Editors. Are. Cool.