Ghostwriting in biomedicine: a review of the published literature

Current Medical Research and Opinion

Volumn 35, Issue 9, 2019, Pages 1643-1651

  DeTora, Lisa M ^a   Carey, Michelle A ^b   Toroser, Dikran ^c   Baum, Ellen Z ^d  

^a HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b SYNEOS HEALTH   (United States)

^c AMGEN INC   (United States)

^d JANSSEN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT   (United States)

Author keywords

authorship; Ghost writing; ghostwriting; publication ethics; transparency

Indexed keywords

AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR; BIOMEDICINE; CONSENSUS; EDITOR; ETHICS; GENETICS; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; INCIDENCE; MEDICAL LITERATURE; MEDLINE; ORGANIZATION; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; PREVALENCE; PUBLISHING; REVIEW; SYSTEMATIC REVIEW; MEDICAL RESEARCH; PUBLICATION; WRITING;

AUTHORSHIP; BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH; CONSENSUS; HUMANS; MEDICAL WRITING; PUBLICATIONS;

EID: 85071040262     PISSN: 03007995     EISSN: 14734877     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03007995.2019.1608101     Document Type: Review

References (67)

1. ISMPP Code of Ethics [Internet]. 2019 Jan 29 [cited 2019 16 May]. Available from: https://www.ismpp.org/code-of-ethics-a
2. Grassley C. Ghostwriting in Medical Literature. Minority Staff Report. Washington (DC): US Senate; 2010 Jun 24.
3. Lacasse JR, Leo J. Ghostwriting at elite academic medical centers in the United States. PLoS Med. 2010;7:e1000230.
4. Matheson A. The disposable author: how pharmaceutical marketing is embraced within medicine’s scholarly literature. Hastings Cent Rep. 2016;46:31–37.
5. Stretton S. Systematic review on the primary and secondary reporting of the prevalence of ghostwriting in the medical literature. BMJ Open. 2014;4:e004777.
6. ICMJE. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2019 Feb 17]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-recommendations/
7. WAME. Authorship [Internet]. 2007 Jan 10 [cited 2019 Feb 17]. Available from: http://wame.org/authorship
8. World Association of Medical Editors. Ghost writing initiated by Commercial Companies [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2017 Jun 9]. Available from: http://www.wame.org/policy-statements#Authorship
9. Battisti WP, Wager E, Baltzer L, et al. Good publication practice for communicating company-sponsored medical research: GPP3. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:461–464.
10. AMWA–EMWA–ISMPP Joint Position Statement on the Role of Professional Medical Writers [Internet]. 2017 Jan [cited 2019 Feb 17]. Available from: https://www.ismpp.org/assets/docs/Inititives/amwa-emwa-ismpp%20joint%20position%20statement%20on%20the%20role%20of%20professional%20medical%20writers_january%202017.pdf
11. Amsterdam JD, McHenry LB. The paroxetine 352 bipolar trial: a study in medical ghostwriting. Int J Risk Saf Med. 2012;24:221–231.
12. Lacasse JR, Leo J, Cimino AN, et al. Knowledge of undisclosed corporate authorship (“ghostwriting”) reduces the perceived credibility of antidepressant research: a randomized vignette study with experienced nurses. BMC Res Notes. 2012;5:490.
13. Bosch X, Esfandiari B, McHenry L. Challenging medical ghostwriting in US courts. PLoS Med. 2012;9:e1001163. Jan
14. Wager E. Ghostwriting. Lancet. 1998;351:1741. Jun 6
15. Wager E. What medical writing means to me. Mens Sana Monogr. 2007;5:169–178.
16. Woolley KL, Gertel A, Hamilton CW, et al. Time to finger point or fix? An invitation to join ongoing efforts to promote ethical authorship and other good publication practices. Ann Pharmacother. 2013;47:1084–1087.
17. Gotzsche PC, Kassirer JP, Woolley KL, et al. What should be done to tackle ghostwriting in the medical literature? PLoS Med. 2009;6:e23.
18. McHenry L. Of sophists and spin-doctors: industry-sponsored ghostwriting and the crisis of academic medicine. Mens Sana Monogr. 2010;8:129–145.
19. Bosch X. Exorcising ghostwriting…. Ghostwriting could potentially have serious repercussions for science and should therefore be treated as research misconduct. EMBO Rep. 2011;12:489–494.
20. Bosch X, Ross JS. Ghostwriting: research misconduct, plagiarism, or fool’s gold? Am J Med. 2012;125:324–326.
21. Dotson B, Slaughter RL. Prevalence of articles with honorary and ghost authors in three pharmacy journals. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2011;68:1730–1734.
22. Flanagin A, Carey LA, Fontanarosa PB, et al. Prevalence of articles with honorary authors and ghost authors in peer-reviewed medical journals. JAMA. 1998;280:222–224.
23. Gotzsche PC, Hrobjartsson A, Johansen HK, et al. Ghost authorship in industry-initiated randomised trials. PLoS Med. 2007;4:e19.
24. Wislar JS, Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, et al. Honorary and ghost authorship in high impact biomedical journals: a cross sectional survey. BMJ. 2011;343:d6128.
25. Kennedy MS, Barnsteiner J, Daly J. Honorary and ghost authorship in nursing publications. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2014;46:416–422.
26. Mowatt G, Shirran L, Grimshaw JM, et al. Prevalence of honorary and ghost authorship in Cochrane reviews. JAMA. 2002;287:2769–2771.
27. Hamilton CW, Jacobs A. Ghostwriting prevalence among AMWA and EMWA members (2005 to 2014). Med Writing. 2016;25:6–14.
28. Vinther S, Rosenberg J. Appearance of ghost and gift authors in Ugeskrift for Laeger and Danish Medical Journal. Dan Med J. 2012;59:A4455.
29. Bonekamp S, Halappa VG, Corona-Villalobos CP, et al. Prevalence of honorary coauthorship in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Am J Roentgenol. 2012;198:1247–1255. Jun
30. Marušić A, Bošnjak L, Jerončić A. A systematic review of research on the meaning, ethics and practices of authorship across scholarly disciplines. PLoS One. 2011;6:e23477–Published online 2011 Sep 8.
31. Ross JS, Hill KP, Egilman DS, et al. Guest authorship and ghostwriting in publications related to rofecoxib: a case study of industry documents from rofecoxib litigation. JAMA. 2008;299:1800–1812.
32. Lexchin J. Economics and industry do not mean ethical conduct in clinical trials. J Pharm Policy Pract. 2013;6:11.
33. Eastwood G. Ethical issues in gastroenterology research. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015;30(Suppl 1):8–11.
34. DeTora L. The spectre of ghostwriting: eroding public trust in physicians, clinical trial integrity and biomedical authorship. Int J Clin Pract. 2016;70:630–633.
35. Wnukiewicz-Kozlowska A. Legal and ethical aspects of ghostwriting in medicine. Arch Immunol Ther Exp. 2011;59:1–9.
36. McNutt MK, Bradford M, Drazen JM, et al. Transparency in authors’ contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018;115:2557–2560.
37. Das N, Das S. Hiring a professional medical writer: is it equivalent to ghostwriting? Biochem Med. 2014;24:19–24.
38. Marx R. The deception and fallacies of sponsored randomized prospective double-blinded clinical trials: the bisphosphonate research example. Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants. 2014;29:e37–e44.
39. Greenberg D, Strous D. Ethics and the psychiatry journal editor: responsibilities and dilemmas. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2014;51:204–210.
40. Flaherty DK. Ghost- and guest-authored pharmaceutical industry-sponsored studies: abuse of academic integrity, the peer review system, and public trust. Ann Pharmacother. 2013;47:1081–1083.
41. Riis P. Scientific dishonestry: European reflections. J Clin Pathol. 2001;54:4–6.
42. Gasparyan AY, Ayvazyan L, Kitas GD. Authorship problems in scholarly journals: considerations for authors, peer reviewers and editors. Rheumatol Int. 2013;33:277–284.
43. Gabriel JM, Goldberg DS. Big pharma and the problem of disease inflation. Int J Health Serv. 2014;44:307–322.
44. Langdon-Neuner E. Medical ghost-writing. Mens Sana Monogr. 2008;6:257–273.
45. Anekwe T. Profits and plagiarism: the case of medical ghostwriting. Bioethics. 2010;24:267–272.
46. Council of Science Editors. CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications, 2012 Update [Internet]. 2012 [cited 2017 Jun 9]. Available from: http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wp-content/uploads/entire_whitepaper.pdf
47. Jacobs A, Carpenter J, Donnelly J, et al. The involvement of professional medical writers in medical publications: results of a Delphi study. Curr Med Res Opin. 2005;21:311–316.
48. Bennett DM, Taylor DM. Unethical practices in authorship of scientific papers. Emerg Med. 2003;15:263–270.
49. Kornhaber RA, McLean LM, Baber RJ. Ongoing ethical issues concerning authorship in biomedical journals: an integrative review. Int J Nanomedicine. 2015;10:4837–4846.
50. Elliott C, Landa AS. Commentary: what’s wrong with ghostwriting? Bioethics. 2010;24:284–286.
51. Lissoni F, Montobbio F. Guest authors or ghost inventors? Inventorship and authorship attribution in academic science. Eval Rev. 2015;39:19–45.
52. MacLennan A, Sturdee D, Fenton A, et al. Ghost writers, vested interest and funding disclosures. Climacteric. 2010;13:301–302.
53. Sismondo S, Doucet M. Publication ethics and the ghost management of medical publication. Bioethics. 2010;24:273–283.
54. Logdberg L. Being the ghost in the machine: a medical ghostwriter’s personal view. PLoS Med. 2011;8:e1001071.
55. Matias-Guiu J, Garcia-Ramos R. Ghost-authors, improvement article communication, and medical publications. Neurologia. 2011;26:257–261.
56. Hamilton CW, Donnelly J, Gertel A, et al. Ghost authorship. Home Healthc Now. 2015;33:346.
57. Hall T. The haunted forest: a ghost story. Lancet. 1998;352:1230.
58. Reidenberg J. Unmasking ghost writers. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2001;70:208–209.
59. Ngai S, Gold JL, Gill SS, et al. Haunted manuscripts: ghost authorship in the medical literature. Account Res. 2005;12:103–114.
60. Rennie D, Flanagin A. Authorship! Authorship! Guests, ghosts, grafters, and the two-sided coin. JAMA. 1994;271:469–471.
61. Dowsett SA, Van Campen LE, Bednar LA. Developing good scientific publishing practices: one pharmaceutical company’s perspective. Curr Med Res Opin. 2010;26:1249–1254.
62. Camby I, Delpire V, Rouxhet L, et al. Publication practices and standards: recommendations from GSK Vaccines’ author survey. Trials. 2014;15:446.
63. Marusic A, Hren D, Mansi B, et al. Five-step authorship framework to improve transparency in disclosing contributors to industry-sponsored clinical trial publications. BMC Med. 2014;12:197.
64. Ghaemi S. Postmodern medicine: an analysis of the pharmaceutical industry and its critics. Perspect Biol Med. 2013;56:223–235.
65. Ross JS, Gross CP, Krumholz HM. Promoting transparency in pharmaceutical industry-sponsored research. Am J Public Health. 2012;102:72–80.
66. World Association of Medical Editors. Ghost writing initiated by commercial companies. J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20:549.
67. Cosgrove L, Vannoy S, Mintzes B, et al. Under the influence: the interplay among industry, publishing, and drug regulation. Account Res. 2016;23:257–279.