(Toronto, Aug. 2, 2011) Two University of Toronto Faculty of Law professors argue that academics who ‘lend’ their names, and receive substantial credit as guest authors of medical and scientific articles ghostwritten by industry writers, should be charged with professional and academic misconduct and fraud, even if the articles contain factually correct information.
In an article published today in PLoS Medicine, Professors Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens argue “Guest authorship is a disturbing violation of academic integrity standards, which form the basis of scientific reliability.” In addition, “The false respectability afforded to claims of safety and effectiveness through the use of academic investigators risks undermining the integrity of biomedical research and patient care.”
In “Legal Remedies for Medical Ghostwriting: Imposing Fraud Liability on Guest Authors of Ghostwritten Articles,” Stern and Lemmens argue that since medical journals, academic institutions, and professional disciplinary bodies have not succeeded in enforcing effective sanctions, a more successful deterrence would be through the imposition of legal liability on the guest authors.
Read the full article on SSRN.
This article has received considerable media attention:
- "Scientists credited on ghostwritten articles 'should be charged with fraud'," Guardian, Aug. 2, 2011.
- "Medical ghostwriters should be sued, lawyers argue," CTV News, Aug. 2, 2011 .
- "Ghostwritten medical articles called fraud," CBC News, Aug. 2, 2011.
- "Law profs attack practice of guest authorship of medical studies, but is it fraud?" Canadian Press, Aug. 2, 2011.
- "Dear Doctor: If you take credit for a ghostwritten article, you could be sued," PLoS online, Aug. 2, 2011.
- "Sue doctors who ghostwrite medical studies, lawyers say," The Globe and Mail, Aug. 3, 2011.
- "Hold guest authors of ghostwritten research liable for fraud, say legal scholars," BMJ, Aug. 3, 2011.
- "Ghostwriting tarnishes medical ethics," Futurity.org, Aug. 3, 2011.
- "Bad medicine," The Telegram (St. John's, Nfld), Aug. 5, 2011.
- "Are ghostwritten articles fraud?" Macleans.ca, Aug. 5, 2011.
- "Fraude médicale - La vérité n'a pas besoin de déguisement," Le Devoir, Aug. 8, 2011.
- "Lutter contre les prête-noms dans la recherche médicale," Radio-Canada, Aug. 9, 2011.
- "Universities get advice on how to avoid ghostwriting scandals in research articles," Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 9, 2011.
- "Ghostwriting remains a fundamental problem in the medical literature," e! Science News, Aug. 20, 2011.
- "Medical Ghostwriting," The Current, CBC Radio, Sept. 1, 2011.
- "‘Academische prostitutie’ gevaar voor volksgezondheid" (PDF), Knack, Sept. 21, 2011 (also web version).
- "Opinion: Ghost Writing is Fraudulent," The Scientist, Nov. 2, 2011.
- "Research Intelligence - Phantom and parasitical menaces," Times Higher Education, Nov. 10, 2011.
