Merck and Elsevier, two life sciences giants, are taking different tacks in responding to a crisis that arose from an ill-judged publishing collaboration. Will the company that keeps schtum get away scott free while the one that engages takes a substantial hit?
The background: My colleague Bob Grant recently wrote a news story1 about a curious publication, The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. It sounds like a respectable journal, but it isn't. Published in the early 2000s, it contained a mix of local and international "news", reprinted articles from Elsevier journals, and unsigned Reviews.
Elsevier published 6 fake journals
The problem was this: The publication was invented to support Merck drugs and the AJBJM was entirely paid for by Merck, yet nowhere was the relationship disclosed. It was a stealth marketing campaign to Australian doctors under the guise of a regular ...
