Editors at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) have released a new study on the prevalence of ghostwriting. The move follows recent reports that scientific research has been contaminated by ghost writers funded by drug companies.
According to the study, six of the top medical journals published a significant number of ghostwritten articles in 2008. The authors of 630 articles took an online questionnaire designed by the researchers. Of this, 7.8 percent admitted contributions to their articles by people whose work should have qualified them to be named as authors on the papers but who were not listed.
Responding authors reported a 10.9 percent rate of ghostwriting in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the highest rate among the journals. An NEJM representative has questioned the study’s methodology while informing that the publication is currently tightening its ghostwriting policies. The study also reported a ghostwriting rate of 7.9 percent in JAMA and 4.9 percent in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
It was found that ghost authors were most prevalent in research articles, as against opinion pieces like reviews or editorials. The new study, yet to be peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal, was made public at an international meeting of journal editors in Vancouver.
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.
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