STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has issued a public statement over its role in the marketing of the Vioxx anti-arthritis drug. The publisher acknowledged that it had failed to meet its disclosure standards in producing a publication sponsored by US pharmaceutical group Merck.
In a statement issued by the company, Michael Hansen, CEO Of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division, has said that the global publisher is conducting an internal review but believe this was an isolated practice from a past period in time. He further stated that the company will continue to partner with all scientists and clinical investigators, including those in the pharmaceutical industry, to help communicate the findings of high-quality, peer-reviewed medical research.
Elsevier produced several issues of a magazine called The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine between 2003 and 2005. The magazine carried articles promoting Merck products Fosamax and Vioxx. The company, however, failed to state that the publication was sponsored by Merck. Elsevier is part of the Reed Elsevier group, which produces the Lancet, the medical journal that has accused Merck of selling Vioxx after it became aware of the drug's heart risks.
Merck has been a subject of much controversy as regards disclosure of cardiovascular events linked to Vioxx. In 2008, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that Merck regularly prepared scientific studies by itself or farmed them out to medical publishing companies. According to the report, the company hired research scientists to claim authorship, even if their involvement was minimal. The reports frequently were penned by ghostwriters and some - on Vioxx studies - minimised the risk of death, the report claimed.
Financial ties between doctors, medical researchers and the drug industry is a known fact in the industry. Highly regarded doctors and researchers have also faced a great deal of criticism because of their financial arrangements with pharmaceutical companies. The latest Elsevier incident is seen to mark a fresh twist in a long debated controversy on how pharma companies influence academic journals by paying for large numbers of reprints of articles favourable to their drugs for distribution to doctors.
Merck described the publication as a 'complimentary journal' comprising articles on its drugs from peer-reviewed publications, which mentioned its funding for the studies and a 'hypothetical cardiovascular risk' associated with Vioxx.
Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) have announced that the 19th biennial SPARC-ACRL forum on emerging issues in scholarly communication will be held at the Chicago meeting of the American Library Association in July. Co-sponsored by SPARC and ACRL, the forum will explore 'Rough waters: Navigating hard times in the scholarly communication marketplace.'
Libraries have long been grappling with constrained collection budgets. The economy and its impact on library and higher education budgets are projected as the most urgent concern for the library community today. This forum will take a bird's eye view of the scholarly communication marketplace and suggest tactics for navigating through tough times.
Speakers will revisit the economics of the scholarly communications marketplace, offer concrete strategies that libraries can deploy now to begin to offset financial pressures, demonstrate positive efforts from the publishing community, and offer a global view of new opportunities to advance change and thrive in future.
Key figures in UK education and research recently met at the British Library to explore the tensions and opportunities surrounding the role of copyright law in an increasingly digital knowledge economy. A panel drawn from the fields of publishing, libraries and higher education provided a range of perspectives on how copyright might best support innovation, education and research in the online environment.
The debate was chaired by the Chief Executive of the British Library, Dame Lynne Brindley. Other speakers included Dr. Annette Davidson of the University of Edinburgh, speaking about access to content for academics and researchers; Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England); Stephen Crowne, Chief Executive of BECTA; and Kate Harris, Divisional MD of Oxford University Press, offering the publishing perspective.
The event was the latest in a series of discussions and debates facilitated by the British Library. The Library is seeking to promote a wide-ranging and balanced public debate on how intellectual property regulation can best serve the public interest in the digital age.
Ovid, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, US, has announced that it is providing hospitals and healthcare centers around the world with free 30-day access to the Ovid MEDLINE's database and CABI's Global Health database on the OvidSP platform. The move is projected to help physicians, pediatricians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals combat the current H1N1 flu outbreak that is seriously affecting thousands of people globally.
As a leading aggregator of medical content, Ovid also invites other publishers to join its efforts to support immediate access to important medical and scientific resources so healthcare workers can quickly and effectively respond to the outbreak. In addition, UpToDate, Ovid's sister company within Wolters Kluwer Health, is also supporting the global fight against H1N1 by providing free access to professional and patient articles. UpToDate is allowing free access to two professional topics and one patient topic via its marketing website, www.uptodate.com.
MEDLINE, produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, is a widely used bibliographic source for current biomedical research dating back to 1948. Updated daily, MEDLINE includes more than 18 million records drawn from more than 3,900 journals and other publications in over 70 countries. The OvidSP implementation of MEDLINE provides researchers and clinicians with fast access to precise and comprehensive answers to their search queries.
CABI's Global Health claims to be the only bibliographic, abstracting and indexing database available to public health research and practice. Indexing journals and other full-text publications produced in more than 150 countries in 50 languages, the database contains a growing list of more than 2 million bibliographic records. Users will find hundreds of bibliographic records with specific information on swine flu in humans.
LibLime, a US-based provider of open source library software, has announced a partnership with Syndetics Solutions to provide enriched bibliographic content to users of the Koha open-source integrated library system (ILS). Syndetics Solutions is a supplier of descriptive content designed exclusively for library catalogues. Its services enable libraries to link to more than 15 million data elements including cover images and a variety of data element matching on more than 6 million ISBNs and UPCs.
Syndetic Solutions contracted with LibLime to integrate Syndetics enhanced bibliographic content with the Koha ILS. Additionally, LibLime has signed an exclusive contract for enhanced content through Syndetics, whereby LibLime will promote and help distribute Syndetic Solutions' enhanced bibliographic information to LibLime customers.
LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. It then facilitates implementation of open-source in libraries by providing development, customisation, support and training solutions - tailored to each library's needs.
Molecular Autism, a new journal published by open access publisher BioMed Central, UK, is now accepting submissions. The journal is edited by Professors Joseph D Buxbaum of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Simon Baron-Cohen of University of Cambridge. They will be supported by an expert international Editorial Board.
Molecular Autism seeks to be the major forum for research into the molecular basis of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions. The journal will focus on research that relates causal and risk factors with these conditions, leading to model systems and novel therapeutics. This will include studies of genetics, neuropathology, neuroimaging, biomarkers, and molecular neurobiology.
The primary focus is on conditions in the autism spectrum (including Asperger syndrome), but the scope also encompasses molecular research into related neurodevelopmental conditions such as specific language impairment, dyspraxia, and specific or general developmental delays; and into related medical syndromes such as fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, and Rett syndrome.
Market research and data services provider Research and Markets, Ireland, has announced the addition of the "Publishing Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed" report to their offering.
Publishing Addiction Science is a comprehensive guide for addiction scientists - especially novice researchers - facing the complex process of publishing in scholarly journals. Written by an international group of addiction science journal editors and their colleagues, the guide tackles such issues as choosing a journal, publishing qualitative research, responding to reviewers reports, becoming a reviewer yourself, and appropriate responses to ethical issues common to addiction science publishing.
International in its scope, and now in a thoroughly revised, expanded and updated second edition, the publication gives special attention to the challenges for researchers from developing and non-English-speaking countries. Publishing Addiction Science is cosponsored by the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors and the Society for the Study of Addiction.
Research and Markets provides the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. The company hold '1000's of major research publications from most of the leading publishers, consultants and analysts.
STM Publishers can now add their Company to the Knowledgespeak Directory list. You can also update our events calendar, if you are organising an event which may be of interest to the STM publishing community. Also, you can send your company press releases to be included in our news section.
Elsevier admits error in promoting Merck drug
SPARC-ACRL forum to focus on emerging issues in scholarly communication
Ovid provides free access to the Ovid MEDLINE and CABI's Global Heath databases
Dear Subscribers