Comments on: Medical ghostwriting and ‘Guest Authorship’: twins separated at birth?

By: PhDave

PhDave — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:56:25 +0000

I thought this was common knowledge!

When I was in grad school, it was just the way things were done. All of us accepted that we grad students did the actual work, which may or may not have even been reviewed by our advisors, who then were listed as lead authors for journal publication purposes. Hell, we were just glad to have our names anywhere on a publication at that time.

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By: Dr. Bob

Dr. Bob — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:49:35 +0000

Medical ghostwriting – are you kidding me? Why is this still going on when it sounds like EVERYBODY who could stop it knows all about it?

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By: Vlad

Vlad — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:27:17 +0000

Unethical, unbelievable, unprofessional, and unacceptable.

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By: Paolo

Paolo — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:10:34 +0000

Can hardly believe this is going on under the noses of those we are trusting to safeguard our health. And what’s being done to stop them?

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By: chase

chase — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:28:47 +0000

Good example of how you can take something that sounds innocuous and benign – “guest author” – to hide something blatantly fraudulent. The ivory tower set somehow believe they are not like the rest of us when it comes to doing the right thing. Love your website – I’m a new subscriber.

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By: irvin

irvin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:40:09 +0000

This shows a remarkable arrogance on the part of ‘guest author’ academics who don’t ‘get it’. Self-absorbed situational ethics at work.

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By: med school prof

med school prof — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:47:57 +0000

As a senior academic, I believe it’s unfair to tar all medical faculty with the same brush through the implication that all guest authors are somehow lying cheats, as you have done here. There are many times when it’s appropriate that scientific papers acknowledge the contributions of senior physicians. There are many other valuable contributions other than sitting down and drafting a paper – without which academic research might not be possible.

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By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:08:55 +0000

This practice of guest authorship is rampant and, oddly enough, is considered perfectly acceptable in the academic community where I work as a research assistant. Profs would be quite offended if anybody opposed their ‘guest authorship’ status, and really – who would do such a thing to these senior faculty who already consider themselves to be gods? They just need to sit back and watch their ‘tribute’ publication list grow, even for projects they may be utterly unaware of, or worse, those that arrive from drug company writers.

Medical school administrators will NEVER touch this subject, as faculty with hefty publication lists are good for business, and they are used to turning a blind eye if it will attract grants and donors. Thank you for helping to inform the public about this widespread practice – that’s the only place where change will start to happen whether these old profs approve or not.

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By: Valerie

Valerie — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:48:52 +0000

Thanks so much for this. Love your site!!!

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By: Peter Chadwick

Peter Chadwick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:34:56 +0000

Excellent information, well put. I have just subscribed to your site – always something thought-provoking going on here!

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By: Barbara B.

Barbara B. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:21:55 +0000

Excellent.

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