Why doctors don't read research papers: Scientific papers are not written to disseminate information

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7485.256-a

BMJ 2005;330:256 (29 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7485.256-a

Letter

Why doctors don't read research papers

Scientific papers are not written to disseminate information

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—I sympathise with Barraclough.¹ The reader deterringstyle in which most scientific papers are written has evolvedbecause they are written not to be read but to be published.Authors are eager to get their names in print not because theyare bursting to tell us something but for more solemn reasons.Another paper means another line on a curriculum vitae, anotherstep towards a job or a research grant.

In 1976 in the Lancet we missed one of the great opportunitiesof 20th century medicine when Dr J B Healy, like another Irishman250 years before him, submitted a modest proposal:

"It seems to me that we should for an experimental period ofa year, declare a moratorium on the appending of authors' namesand of the names of hospitals to articles in medical journals.If the dissemination of information is the reason why papersare submitted . . . [Full text of this article]

Michael O'Donnell, former general practitioner turned journeyman writer

Loxhill GU8 4BD michael@odonnell99.freeserve.co.uk