Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10984

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

Vlassov V
Journals and drug advertising: Beware advertising packages
BMJ 2007 Jul 28; 335:(7612):172
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7612/172-b?etoc

Abstract:

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

In post-Soviet Russia, almost all journals depend mostly on advertisements.1 2 The most prosperous journals bring profits for their owners, and the owners then press the journals to raise more money through advertisements. This does not reduce the pressure on the content of the journal but introduces another-the demand for more profits.

All advertisers have some influence on the content of the journals to support their advertisements. And if one advertiser succeeds in this, it will not lead to complaints from their competitors. Rather the opposite: competitor advertisers will demand that the journal provides a similar service for them. In Russia these days the publication of advertisements with the supporting “scientific” paper is the usual advertiser’s package.