Journal vs. docs: malnutrition spat

Written byBob Grant

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The editor of __The Lancet__ has banned members of international aid group Doctors Without Borders (Medicins sans Frontieres or MSF in French) from publishing articles in the journal, according to a linkurl:story;https://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/319/5863/555 in __Science__ magazine today (Feb. 1). Did members of the aid organization break an linkurl:embargo?;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53943/ Fail to disclose conflicts of interest? Fabricate data? Nope. They just posted a linkurl:critique;https://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=82D4C16C-15C5-F00A-25703306040BE471&component=toolkit.article&method=full_html of some __Lancet__ articles on their website. In what's shaping up to be an ugly spat, __Lancet__ editor Richard Horton told __Science__ that the medical journal has "put our relationship with MSF on hold until I have a clear response about how this could have happened." MSF criticized a linkurl:series of articles;https://www.msf.org/source/access/2008/Lancet_Undernutrition_Comment.pdf on curbing malnutrition published in the Jan. 19th issue of __The Lancet__ for, among other shortcomings, not including enough information about ready-made, high-protein therapeutic foods that MSF and other aid organizations distribute to combat acute cases of malnutrition. The MSF critique reads, in part, "Because of weaknesses in analysis and outmoded recommendations, the series is undermining efforts to promote urgently needed change." Horton shot back in the __Science__ story: "MSF has punctured the beginning of an advocacy based on the best science."

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
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From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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