Medical Ghost-writing

Overview

Journal Mens Sana Monogr

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2011 Oct 21

PMID 22013363

Citations 7

Authors

Elise Langdon-Neuner

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Any assistance an author receives with writing a scientific article that is not acknowledged in the article is described as ghost-writing. Articles ghost-written by medical writers engaged by pharmaceutical companies who have a vested interest in the content have caused concern after scandals revealed misleading content in some articles. A key criterion of authorship in medical journals is final approval of the article submitted for publication. Authors are responsible for the content of their articles and for acknowledging any assistance they receive. Action taken by some journals and medical writer associations to encourage acknowledgement is an uphill task in the light of disinterest from the pharmaceutical industry and ignorance or similar lack of interest by those who agree to be named authors. However, acknowledgment alone is not sufficient to resolve medical ghost-writing; issues of how the acknowledgement is formulated, permission to acknowledge and access to raw data also need to be tackled.

Citing Articles

Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of Research Ethics and Research Ethics Committees among Post-Graduate Residents of Neurosciences - A Nationwide Analysis from Pakistan.

Qadri H, Shahid R, Fatima S, Naveed N, Khizar A, Haq S Pak J Med Sci. 2024; 40(12PINS Suppl):S55-S62.

PMID: 39703966 PMC: 11654657. DOI: 10.12669/pjms.40.12(PINS).11116.

Ghostwriters in the scientific world.

Yadav S, Rawal G Pan Afr Med J. 2018; 30:217.

PMID: 30574236 PMC: 6294975. DOI: 10.11604/pamj.2018.30.217.16312.

Taking responsibility for health in an epistemically polluted environment.

Levy N Theor Med Bioeth. 2018; 39(2):123-141.

PMID: 30056624 PMC: 6105200. DOI: 10.1007/s11017-018-9444-1.

Individual and Institutional Corruption in European and US Healthcare: Overview and Link of Various Corruption Typologies.

Sommersguter-Reichmann M, Wild C, Stepan A, Reichmann G, Fried A Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2018; 16(3):289-302.

PMID: 29572725 PMC: 5940713. DOI: 10.1007/s40258-018-0386-6.

Systematic review on the primary and secondary reporting of the prevalence of ghostwriting in the medical literature.

Stretton S BMJ Open. 2014; 4(7):e004777.

PMID: 25023129 PMC: 4120312. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004777.

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