Sen. Grassley Presses NIH Over Ghostwritten Research Reports

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has been investigating financial conflicts of interest in medicine, is now urging the National Institutes of Health to combat the practice of university researchers' signing their names to scientific papers that were actually prepared by ghostwriters working for drug companies. At least three Columbia University researchers signed their names to articles financed by the pharmaceutical maker Wyeth, The New York Times reported.

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1. davi2665 - August 19, 2009 at 04:11 pm

What is another way to spell plagiarism? Right- g-h-o-s-t-w-r-i-t-i-n-g. Just as congress has the best representatives and senators lobbyists can buy, so also some universities have the best researchers big pharma (and big device companies) can buy.

2. 11272784 - August 19, 2009 at 04:40 pm

Those papers are frauds and should be rejected by NIH, and the universities required to do their own research from the ground up.

3. jesor - August 19, 2009 at 04:44 pm

Not to mention those faculty members being terminated for plagiarism. If it came out that someone else did a project and I put my name on it without ever crediting them, I'd be fired on the spot.

4. geno101 - August 19, 2009 at 04:53 pm

yes, it is unacceptible. But I find it ironic the "beef" comes from Grassley who mouths the lobbyist's line on hewlth care reform and probably takes a good deal of their support money.

5. 11214079 - August 19, 2009 at 05:46 pm

The NIH does not have the authority or ability to police this practice. These are studies funded by pharmaceutical companies and published by medical journals. NIH does not approve or sign off on publications unless the authors work for the NIH.

6. 22116123 - August 19, 2009 at 08:29 pm

The academic community needs to take action to at least outlaw ghost-written articles as counting toward promotion, tenure, and/or annual performance reviews. These lazy profs are cheating hardworking faculty who do their own work. It is also a laugh how many of these ghost-written papers end up in journals with "high impact factors."

7. akprof - August 20, 2009 at 02:32 pm

I agree with geno101 - and quite frankly, Grassley's disingenuous behavior on the Senate Finance Committee's negotiations regarding health care reform make me believe that, no matter how right (i.e., correct) on other issues, his behavior re health care reform make his ideas and opinions totally ignorable! He's a jerk!