How Big Pharma has corrupted medical journals

[Mark Crispin Miller]

Propaganda kills.

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Abstract

Ghostwriting for medical journals has become a major, but largely invisible, factor contributing to the problem of credibility in academic medicine. In this paper I argue that the pharmaceutical marketing objectives and use of medical communication firms in the production of ghostwritten articles constitute a new form of sophistry. After identifying three distinct types of medical ghostwriting, I survey the known cases of ghostwriting in the literature and explain the harm done to academic medicine and to patients. Finally, I outline steps to address the problem and restore the integrity of the medical literature.

Keywords: Academic Medicine, Ghostwriting, Key Opinion Leader, Medical Education and Communication Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Publications Strategy, 

MCM

Of Sophists and Spin-Doctors: Industry-Sponsored Ghostwriting and the Crisis of Academic Medicine

Leemon McHenry*

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3031939/

Abstract

Ghostwriting for medical journals has become a major, but largely invisible, factor contributing to the problem of credibility in academic medicine. In this paper I argue that the pharmaceutical marketing objectives and use of medical communication firms in the production of ghostwritten articles constitute a new form of sophistry. After identifying three distinct types of medical ghostwriting, I survey the known cases of ghostwriting in the literature and explain the harm done to academic medicine and to patients. Finally, I outline steps to address the problem and restore the integrity of the medical literature.

Keywords: Academic Medicine, Ghostwriting, Key Opinion Leader, Medical Education and Communication Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Publications Strategy, Sophists

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