JRSM > Volume 99, Number 10 > Pp. 485

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Letters

Author's response

Richard Smith

Former editor of the BMJ, London SW4 0LD, UK

E-mail: Richardswsmith{at}yahoo.co.uk

Writing that ‘authors must take responsibility for integrity of their own work’ is rather like writing ‘people must obey the law, and should they happen to murder anyone they should inform the police at once.’ Of course, authors should take responsibility for the integrity of their work, but often they don't. Either they may actively deceive editors, or they may have a very different notion of what constitutes integrity. Editors, whether they like it or not, have a role in guarding the integrity of studies.

Dr Drazen says nothing about the central point of my article—that editors have a responsibility to correct data the minute that they know that they are wrong. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine knew years ago about misleading data in the VIGOR trial but took no action—until they were stung into doing so by a court action.

When he writes ‘The tale Smith tells is riddled with distortions and unsubstantiated opinions,’ Drazen is employing the oldest trick in the book in that he doesn't actually point out what they are. The next trick is to doubt the motives of the person you are criticizing, as Drazen does in his next sentence. I don't have an ‘agenda... that journals are information-laundering vehicles for industry.’ I have a fear that this is de facto the case, which came on me as I examined studies that show that journals rarely publish trials that are unfavourable to their sponsors.¹ Sadly my fear has been increased by the NEJM's dismal performance in relation to studies it has published on refecoxib (Vioxx).

Footnotes

Competing interests RS was the editor of the BMJ and the chief executive of the BMJ Publishing Group. He is a member of the board of the Public Library of Science, which promotes open access to all scientific research.

REFERENCES

1. Smith R. Medical journals are an extension of the marketing arm of pharmaceutical companies. PLoS Med2005; 2:e138[CrossRef][Medline]

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Send a Quick Comment Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Quick Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Smith, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                      What's this?