The publication of sponsored symposiums in medical journals
Article Abstract:
The goal of symposiums sponsored by drug companies that are published in medical journals may be to promote products rather than to share peer-reviewed research data. Among 625 symposiums published in 58 journals of clinical medicine, 262 (42%) were sponsored by an individual pharmaceutical company. Symposiums sponsored by drug companies were more likely to have a misleading title and to mention brand name products than those that were not. Symposiums sponsored by drug companies were also less likely to be peer-reviewed in a comparable manner to other articles in the journal. Among the 158 symposiums that discussed a single drug, 81 (51%) discussed a drug that had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The number of symposiums published each year in medical journals was approximately four times higher in 1989 than in 1966.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1992
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The Cochrane Collaboration: preparing, maintaining, and disseminating systematic reviews of the effects of health care
Article Abstract:
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews may provide a model of electronic publishing that other publishers may want to emulate. The Cochrane Database is a collection of reviews of medical treatments that is published on CD-ROM for US $107 per year. The Nov, 1995 disc had 65 Cochrane reviews and a bibliography of 1,137 reviews published elsewhere. The Cochrane reviews are written by collaborative review groups of scientists who volunteer to take on this monumental task. Each group must be registered with a Cochrane Center, of which there are nine worldwide. Each center will put scientists in touch with others who want to research the same topic. Once the reviews are published electronically on the Internet, researchers will be able to critique the reviews and the reviews will be edited accordingly.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1995
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Why review articles on the health effects of passive smoking reach different conclusions
Article Abstract:
Authors of articles on passive smoking should reveal any possible links to the tobacco industry and readers should take such information into consideration when evaluating the article. Researchers evaluated 106 review articles on passive smoking and found that 37% of the articles concluded that passive smoking has no effect on bystanders' health. However, 74% of these articles were written by authors who had received funding from the tobacco industry or were linked in any way to the industry. Affiliation with the industry was the only factor strongly linked to a conclusion that passive smoking was not harmful.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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