Ghost writers need to be more visible

doi:10.1136/bmj.39104.595463.94

BMJ 2007;334:208 (27 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39104.595463.94

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Ghost writers need to be more visible

Keith Dawes, clinical research scientist and medical writer

¹ PRA International, Reading

DawesKeith@praintl.com

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

What is a medical writer? A medical writer isa professional writer who is hired to write scientific or medicaldocuments, including manuscripts for publication in peer reviewedjournals. Most medical writers are employed by drug companies,contract research organisations, or medical communication agencies,but there are also freelance medical writers and consultants.

Currently medical writers contribute extensivelyto medical journals, mostly as unheralded "ghost writers." Medicalwriters also have an important role in medical education, drugdevelopment, and drug marketing. Though mostly unseen, unappreciated,and misunderstood, they nevertheless add quite a bit of greaseto the wheels of science publishing. It has been claimed thatat least 50% of all publications on treatments in the BMJ, Lancet,and New England Journal of Medicine have been written by anunacknowledged ghost writer (BMJ 2004;329:937; 2004;329:1345).

Not surprisingly, given the negativity associatedwith publications sponsored by the drug . . . [Full text of this article]

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