1984 – conflict of interest

In a New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editorial in 1984, Arnold Relman stated that NEJM was instituting a new policy in which authors were requested to acknowledge all funding sources as well as any other business associations relevant to the research.

1993 — World Wide Web/Internet

In 1993 the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) released software that allowed simple access and use of the Internet.5 Journals were transformed, changing from print to digital releases.

1996 – Data-sharing

In 1996 the Bermuda principle was established, ensuring that all gene sequences would be made publicly available. In anticipation of the end of the Human Genome Project in 2001, leading investigators from around the world wanted to ensure that individual genes would not be patented. Numerous groups have since mandated data-sharing, and in 2022, the US government, mandated in the coming years (instituted in 2025) that data underpinning National Institutes of Health (NIH) – supported manuscripts, and those of all federal agencies, must be made freely available.

2002 – Open access

In 2001, the Open Science Institute, convened a meeting in Budapest, and established the principles of open access (OA), which is a foundational principle of Open Science. There are now over 22 000 OA journals.

2005 – Mandated registration of RCTs

In 2005, ICMJE mandated that RCTs needed to be registered prior to publication. This dramatically transformed the reporting of RCTs, among the most influential article types in the field of medical sciences.

2020s – generative AI

Beginning sometime in the 2020s investigators began to use generative AI to assist in scientific discovery and the creation of manuscripts. This has been associated with an increase in manuscripts from publicly available, large datasets. For example, among 9 publicly available datasets there has been an estimated 11 577 excess publications based on established trends.

Source https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/4/6/qxag125/8688697?login=false