The basic criteria for fund-raising : The intentions for and the outcome of fund raising should be ethically justifiable, and the process of fund collection ought to be ethically acceptable and transparent.

 

Sustenance of any journal through subscriptions is the most desired means because this is through voluntary choice by subscribers. This may prove difficult in the field of medical ethics which is not a high priority with many potential readers. Even if IME manages to eventually sustain itself on subscriptions, it needs to survive until this happy state is reached. At present, we must, perforce, explore other avenues for revenue. Our policy stipulates that as soon as the subscription reaches a state where it assures survival and development of the journal, we shall stop seeking other avenues for funds.

 

Subscriptions Subscribers pay voluntarily. One may argue that once the dished out material is merit- worthy, the contract with the subscribers is ethically complete. We believe, though, that readers of journals devoted to ethics - in particular those reading our journal - must be co-participants in the endeavour to improve medical practice. We consider it only fair to let our co- participants know how the revenue from their subscriptions is spent. From 1997 we shall publish on these pages a statement of income and expense also detailing the number of subscribers and the number of those receiving the journal free of cost with reasons for the latter form of distribution.

 

We reiterate that funds obtained from life-subscriptions are placed in recognised savings schemes. We utilise merely the proceeds in the form of interest. This is why we have made the commitment that in the event of demise of this journal within six years of payment of the life-subscription, the full sum will be returned

 

 

 We seek donations from individuals and institutions and will publish the names of all donors once a year to ensure transparency.

 

Advertisements - some self-imposed restrictions

 

We will not accept any advertisement of products or services deemed health hazards. Advertisements of foetal sonography for sex-determination and of cigarettes fall into this category. We will not accept any advertisement of irrational products (such as drug combinations).

 

We will not accept any advertisement of claims that are currently judged to be untenable.

 

We will not accept any advertisements from organisations, which have been boycotted due to subversion of ethics.

 

We shall publish a list of advertisers on these pages once a year so that if we have unwittingly transgressed our code, we can make amends and avoid repetition.

 

We welcome comments, criticism and suggestions on our fund-collection policy.