[Ip-health] RE: WHO publications policy discussed at WHO Executive Board
rebecca lacroix
lingonsnacka@hotmail.com
Tue Jan 22 06:56:01 2008
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
-----------------------------------------------http://www.who.int/gb/e/e_eb=
122.html <SNIP>Executive clearance 13. The final text of all publications w=
ill be cleared by the relevant Assistant Director-General or Regional Direc=
tor before publication. Publications that describe the workings of a partic=
ular government or national health service or that have policy implications=
for the Organization or address controversial health-related issues will r=
equire additional clearance by the Director-General's Office. ------------=
----------------------------------- EXECUTIVE BOARD EB122/20 122nd Session =
6 December 2007 Provisional agenda item 6.4 WHO publications Report by the =
Secretariat 1. At its 121st session, the Executive Board accepted the Direc=
tor-General's proposal to the Programme, Budget and Administration Committe=
e at its sixth meeting to submit a new WHO publication policy to the Board =
in 2008, once that policy had undergone a further, fuller review.1 Members =
of the Committee had stressed the need for WHO to have a robust publishing =
policy and emphasized that WHO's publications2 should be firmly grounded in=
evidence. Further, they had emphasized the importance of WHO's publication=
s being in line not only with the Organization's corporate policies but als=
o with its international commitments. 2. The Committee had also noted that =
the Director-General, in her role as editor-in-chief of the Organization, n=
eeded editorial independence. On the issue of dissemination, members of the=
Committee had considered that WHO was distributing too much in print and, =
while the needs of readerships with no access to electronic communication s=
hould be taken into account, the Organization should make greater use of di=
stribution through the Internet and other new technologies. 3. One of WHO'=
s constitutional responsibilities is to provide objective and reliable info=
rmation and advice in the field of human health. It fulfils this responsibi=
lity in part by producing and disseminating information in the form of publ=
ications, technical documents, newsletters, press releases, fact sheets, ar=
ticles in external publications and journals, CD-ROMs, computer diskettes a=
nd through its web sites. 4. WHO issues some 350=96400 publications a year=
. Of these titles, around 75% are published by headquarters and the rest by=
regional offices. Currently, between 1.2 million and 1.6 million copies of=
WHO publications are distributed annually, 90% of which are distributed fr=
ee of charge. In the biennium 1998=961999, the total cost of publications t=
o the Organization was estimated at US$ 117 million (14.4% of the total bud=
get). In the biennium 2004=962005, the total cost of publications was estim=
ated to be US$ 347.6 million (12.7% of the total budget), 71.7% of which wa=
s attributed to the cost of writing and preparing the initial text. Editing=
, printing, translation and electronic products each accounted for 22.7%; t=
he remaining 5.6% was accounted for by illustration, design, layout, cleara=
nce, storage, distribution, mailing, and marketing and sales activities. =
(Footnote 1- Document =
EB121/2007/REC/1, summary record of the first meeting, section 4.) (Footnot=
e 2-The term "publication" refers to "information products", i.e. materials=
that are issued by WHO to the public in whatever format and through whatev=
er channel. It excludes materials internal to WHO.) 5. New WHO publishing=
policy guidelines have been drafted, which take into account the comments =
of the Committee. They combine elements of existing policies with innovativ=
e approaches aimed at strengthening quality control and reducing WHO's spen=
ding on publishing. The objectives are: =95 to ensure the relevance of the =
Organization's publications and to maintain its reputation for excellence =
=95 to ensure that WHO publications are based on sound evidence and that al=
l material that is made available to external audiences is authoritative, c=
redible, reliable and impartial =95 to ensure that WHO publications are in =
line with the Organization's corporate policies and its international commi=
tments =95 to increase the cost-efficiency of production and distribution o=
f WHO publications =95 to ensure that WHO publications are accessible and a=
vailable =95 to enhance the multilingualism of its publications =95 to prot=
ect the intellectual property, image and reputation of the Organization, an=
d enhance the branding of its publications. 6. As far as possible, the poli=
cy follows a "life-cycle" approach to publishing. The cycle includes planni=
ng, content development, executive clearance, production processes, dissemi=
nation, archiving and evaluation. Planning 7. With the introduction of the =
global management system, scheduled for early 2008, publications will be pl=
anned within the results-based performance management framework of the Orga=
nization in the same way as other programmatic activities. 8. A master list=
of planned publications will be prepared for executive approval at the beg=
inning of each biennium. 9. Any article, book chapter or invited commentary=
relating to WHO's work that is to be submitted by a staff member for exter=
nal publication will be subject to the same clearance procedures as article=
s, books and commentaries published by WHO. Content development 10. The st=
eps taken in developing content will be clearly documented for each publica=
tion by the technical unit concerned. 11. Specific procedures will be follo=
wed for different categories of publications, including peer review for sci=
entific publications and clearance by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee o=
f any publications proposing recommendations for guidelines or best practic=
e and of similar normative documents. 12. The responsibility for the te=
chnical quality of all publications prepared by a particular department wil=
l rest with the director concerned. Executive clearance 13. The final text=
of all publications will be cleared by the relevant Assistant Director-Gen=
eral or Regional Director before publication. Publications that describe th=
e workings of a particular government or national health service or that ha=
ve policy implications for the Organization or address controversial health=
-related issues will require additional clearance by the Director-General's=
Office. Production processes 14. Industry standards will be adopted for f=
ile formats and standardized designs and templates will be used for certain=
publication categories (which have yet to be defined). 15. Use of digital =
printing and print-on-demand technology will be increased both to print WHO=
publications at or closer to the location of their intended target audienc=
es, and to maintain a greater number of titles in print. 16. Training in pu=
blishing will be strengthened, to ensure that those responsible for managin=
g the publishing process acquire the necessary skills, knowledge, and compe=
tencies. The training will be complemented by the development of a publishi=
ng policy e-guide that includes all publishing-related procedures and polic=
ies. This guide will be made available on WHO's Intranet. Dissemination 17.=
Electronic distribution will be the preferred means for disseminating WHO =
publications. Where the intended target readership of a product does not ha=
ve access to the Internet, or if a product has sales potential, such produc=
ts will also be made available in print. 18. An integrated collection of W=
HO publications in electronic format (an e-library) will be developed and m=
ade accessible to Member States to reduce the need for dissemination of pri=
nted products. 19. Publications developed specifically for the World Wide =
Web or posted there will be subject to the same quality-control procedures =
and clearances as printed publications. Archiving 20. Electronic files of t=
he final versions of WHO publications will be deposited in the WHO institut=
ional repository, as envisaged in the WHO plan of action on multilingualism=
.1 Evaluation 21. An evaluation of WHO's publishing activities will be car=
ried out at the end of each biennium, both to monitor the policy's effects =
on the technical quality and quantity of WHO publications =
(Footnote 1- Document EB121/6) (includ=
ing the number of copies disseminated) and to make recommendations for furt=
her improvements. WHO identity and copyright 22. WHO publications are a pa=
rt of the Organization's corporate identity and must reflect the values tha=
t it promotes. 23. WHO publications must be produced to a high editorial st=
andard and must be easily recognizable as originating in the Organization. =
Branding of WHO publications will be strengthened by the use of standardize=
d templates for some categories of publications. 24. All WHO information ma=
terials will bear the WHO logo and an appropriate disclaimer, indicating wh=
ether the views presented are those of the Organization, a group of individ=
uals or an expert group. 25. WHO copyright will, as a matter of principle,=
remain with the Organization and will not be assigned to an outside instit=
ution. Multilingualism 26. The languages in which an information product wi=
ll be published will be reviewed at the planning clearance stage. If transl=
ation is deemed necessary at this stage, the product will be approved only =
if translation can be assured. 27. The volume of multilingual content on W=
HO web sites will be increased, style guides and glossaries will be produce=
d in all official languages, technical guidelines for multilingual publicat=
ions will be established or reinforced, publication workflows will be ratio=
nalized to minimize the cost of producing different language versions of th=
e same document, and a multilingual institutional repository will be establ=
ished, as envisaged in the WHO plan of action on multilingualism.1 ACTION B=
Y THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 28. The Board is invited to note the report. =3D =
=3D =3D (Footn=
ote 1: Document EB121/6.)
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