BMJ  2007;335 (4 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39294.318021.3B

Editor's Choice

Editor's choice

Questioning fondly held assumptions

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

An important part of the BMJ's business is to question assumptions. Mostly this is done in a well mannered way, but sometimes we hit a raw nerve and emotion breaks through.

This happened last week over our head to head debate on whether there should be a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The associated poll produced an unprecedented number of votes and the flavour of the debate can be gauged in our Observations section, together with the editor's response on why we published the debate (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39294.443264.59). Most of the correspondents quoted have engaged with the arguments, but others in rapid responses and in direct emails have not, choosing to focus on our right to host the debate.

In contrast, our editorials this week illustrate the careful unpicking of evidence on issues that also are or have been controversial. Each is commenting on an article in this issue . . . [Full text of this article]

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