PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed online publication of open access publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS), has published a study that proposes a strict ban on medical ghostwriting. A scientist who takes credit as an author on an article secretly written by a pharmaceutical company should be deemed guilty of academic misconduct, it states. The study was authored by Jeffrey Lacasse of Arizona State University's School of Social Work and Jonathan Leo of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.
Medical ghostwriting refers to medical writers who, sponsored by a drug or medical device manufacturer, make major research or writing contributions to articles that are then published under the names of academic authors. It has been observed that scientists accredited for research articles, secretly penned by ghostwriters from pharmaceutical companies, are not reprimanded for their misrepresentations. On the other hand, their ranks and career trajectories often improve. Although this practice raises serious concerns about academic integrity, few institutions are seen to have policies to discourage it. The authors of the new study hope to bring medical ghostwriting on par with plagiarism and data falsification.
A survey on ghostwriting prohibition policies revealed that only 37 of the top 50 academic medical centres in the US have a clear policy that prohibits ghostwriting. Lacasse and Leo took the opportunity to propose an unambiguous policy on the matter in their article entitled ‘Ghostwriting at Elite Academic Medical Centers in the United States’.
Policies prohibiting ghostwriting in US-based academic medical centres were recommended in a 2009 report on conflict of interest in medical research, education and practice published by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. According to a representative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), while NIH policy does not use the term ‘ghostwriting,’ federal regulations on research misconduct such as plagiarism and fabrication could be applicable to ghostwriting.
NIH is currently drafting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which could introduce revisions and enhancements to the current regulations, according to the representative. The notice will be posted for public comment as NIH develops the final rule, which is anticipated later in 2010.
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