PUBLICATION ETHICS AND THE GHOST MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL PUBLICATION

• Published in: Bioethics Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 273 - 283
• Main Authors: SISMONDO, SERGIO, DOUCET, MATHIEU
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2010
• Subjects: Authorship; Bias; Bioethics; Biomedical research; Codes of Ethics; Conflict of Interest; Drug industry; Drug Industry - ethics; Drug Industry - statistics & numerical data; Editorial Policies; Ethics; Ethics, Research; Federal Government; ghost management; Government Regulation; Guidelines as Topic; Humans; Industrial management; Justification; Marketing; Marketing - ethics; Marketing - statistics & numerical data; Medical journals; Medical research; Periodicals as Topic - ethics; Periodicals as Topic - statistics & numerical data; Pharmaceutical industry; Plagiarism; Professional ethics; Profitability; publication ethics; Publishing; Publishing - ethics; Publishing - statistics & numerical data; research ethics; Research Support as Topic - ethics; Research Support as Topic - statistics & numerical data; Scholarly publishing; Scientific Misconduct - ethics; Scientific Misconduct - statistics & numerical data; Scientific publications; Secrets; sponsorship bias; Writing
• ISSN: 0269-9702; 1467-8519; 1467-8519
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.01702.x

ABSTRACT It is by now no secret that some scientific articles are ghost authored – that is, written by someone other than the person whose name appears at the top of the article. Ghost authorship, however, is only one sort of ghosting. In this article, we present evidence that pharmaceutical companies engage in the ghost management of the scientific literature, by controlling or shaping several crucial steps in the research, writing, and publication of scientific articles. Ghost management allows the pharmaceutical industry to shape the literature in ways that serve its interests. This article aims to reinforce and expand publication ethics as an important area of concern for bioethics. Since ghost‐managed research is primarily undertaken in the interests of marketing, large quantities of medical research violate not just publication norms but also research ethics. Much of this research involves human subjects, and yet is performed not primarily to increase knowledge for broad human benefit, but to disseminate results in the service of profits. Those who sponsor, manage, conduct, and publish such research therefore behave unethically, since they put patients at risk without justification. This leads us to a strong conclusion: if medical journals want to ensure that the research they publish is ethically sound, they should not publish articles that are commercially sponsored.