Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6876

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Phillips SG, Carey LA.
Whose article is it anyway?
Lancet 1999 Oct 30; 354:(9189):1563

Abstract:

The article by Larkin on ghost writing misinterprets the article that the authors wrote. Their definition of ghost authors included people such as statisticians, fellows, graduate students and technicians. Unidentified medical writers assisted in fewer than 2% of the articles that they assessed. The negative opinion of Drummond Rennie about ghost writing is not shared by many authors. About a third of the authors would use the services of a medical writer if they were available in order to help improve the quality of their articles.

Keywords:
*letter to the editor/United States/ghost writing/scientific publications/PROMOTION DISGUISED: GHOST-WRITING AND JOURNAL ARTICLES Authorship* Ethics, Professional* Humans Writing*