More than 1,300 scientists, academics, and health care professionals have now signed a petition that calls for publishing giant Reed Elsevier to abandon its involvement in international arms exhibitions, which it organizes through its subsidiary, Reed Exhibitions.A smaller group of scientists (less than 100) have signed a more strongly worded online petition pledging to boycott all Reed Elsevier journals until the publisher stops organizing arms fairs.Editorials voicing disapproval of Reed Elsevier also turned up in both the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and in the British Medical Journal last month. The Lancet, Reed Elsevier's premier medical journal, also published letters criticizing the publisher's arms involvement in the March 24 issue.Royal College of Physicians President Ian Gilmore and RCP International Adviser on Global Health Issues Michael Pelly said in their Lancet letter that Reed Elsevier's involvement in the promotion and sale of arms "represents a conflict...

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