Not only some medical journals which appear to be independent actually sponsored and controlled by pharmaceutical interests, so are many 'foundations', 'institutions' and 'medical councils'.

It is an interesting subject and when I get the time I will do a detailed article about this.

For the moment, I have reproduced an article from Pharma in Focus, an Australian publication.

More 'fake' medical journals     
Written by Pharma In Focus    
Sunday, 01 November 2009 08:34 

International science publishing giant, Elsevier, has admitted to putting out nine publications in Australia designed to give the appearance of "primary research" journals when they were no such thing . But the company says that in all cases - other than The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine revealed in the Vioxx trial - there was legitimate disclosure of pharmaceutical company sponsorship because of the type of advertising the publications contained.

An Elsevier update on its investigation of the 'fake journals' scandal says, "An additional eight 'Journal of' titles were published with ads from multiple advertisers and therefore did not call for additional disclosure." However the publisher adds, "None of these nine titles were primary research journals and should not have been called journals." It has already distanced itself from the practice by blaming "former employees in a local pharmaceutical services division". It says the practice stopped in 2005.

Company spokesperson, Tom Reller, said, "The only title that was a contracted publication was the originally reported Bone and Joint product (from the Vioxx case). The others were different in that they were produced by and for Elsevier, but we sold advertisements to multiple companies for them; and those companies did not exercise editorial approval in the manner that MSD did."

The eight publications were The Australasian Journals of Neurology, Hospital Medicine, General Practice, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Medicine, Clinical Pharmacy, Clinical Practice, and Musculoskeletal Medicine. A further 13 'Australasian Journal' titles including Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Infectious Diseases, Pain Management, Respiratory Medicine, Sexual Health, Psychiatry, Asthma, Gastroenterology and Depression were registered but never published.

Vioxx changes publishing
Medical publisher Elsevier - part of the Reed Elsevier group that produces The Lancet - says it will begin enforcing new guidelines by the end of the month that will draw an unequivocal line between peer-reviewed articles and company sponsored information.

The announcement comes in the wake of revelations at the Vioxx (rofecoxib) class action suit in Melbourne that a special publication partly funded by Merck Sharp and Dohme parent company Merck and Co, The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine, was passed off as a clinical journal.

"Elsevier will review practices related to all article reprint, compilation or custom publications and set out guidelines on content, permission, use of imprint and repackaging to ensure that such publications are not confused with Elsevier's core peer reviewed journals and that the sponsorship of any publication is clearly disclosed," said a company statement.

CEO of Elsevier Health Sciences Michael Hansen said: "These guidelines will help ensure that there is no confusion between special compilations and our core collection of primary research journals." Elsevier has called the incident related to Vioxx an "isolated practice led by former employees in a local pharmaceutical services division".
 

More 'fake' journals

Pharma In Focus