If You Didn’t Write the Article, Why Are You Listed as an Author?

From the Chronicle comes news of a study showing some academic scientists may be adding their names (subscription) as authors to papers authored by corporations. The study—published in the Journal of the American Medical Association—suggests the practice maybe all too common in medical journals.

According to the Chronicle, researchers conducting the study searched a database of millions of court documents provided by Merck for liability cases involving its drug Vioxx, which was pulled from the market because of safety concerns. They found that papers reporting clinical trial results seemed to be written by Merck employees, only to have the names of academic authors added later.

The report includes an editorial by the editor-in-chief and executive deputy editor of JAMA, condemning such ghostwriting as “unprofessional and demeaning to the medical profession and to scientific research.” The editorial includes new guidelines to prevent such behavior: in particular, it calls for authors to disclose any financial conflicts of interest to their supervisors.

The study adds to the growing list (subscription) of recent similar breaches of scientific integrity. A clear and simple conflict of interest standard adopted by all scientific journals could go a long way to preventing future conflicts like this.

Tags: public health, Publishing, scientific integrity

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