What happens to papers rejected by the BMJ on ethical grounds

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1880

Published 1 October 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1880
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1880

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What happens to papers rejected by the BMJ on ethical grounds

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

The paper rejected by the BMJ but subsequently published bythe Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health raises a furtherissue.¹ What happens to those papers that the BMJ committeerejected?

After permission we reviewed the committee’s minutes anddocumentation for the period 2004-5 and identified six papersrejected on ethical grounds and subsequently published elsewherein a form that did not take account of the ethical recommendationsof the committee. This was a snapshot view, and we cannot guaranteethat all such papers were picked up. We contacted all six leadauthors but only received replies from three, agreeing to furtherdiscussion of the problem and permission to quote their ownpaper. Hence we cannot be more specific than state the following.

Two failed to get consent; one used an intrinsically unethicalintervention; one relied on previously published papers by thesame author, which were highly questionable in terms . . . [Full text of this article]

N A Pace, lead clinician anaesthesia¹, Margaret Owen, specialist registrar in anaesthetics¹, Sara Schroter, senior researcher²

¹ Glasgow Western Infirmary, Glasgow G11 6NT, ² BMJ Editorial, London WC1H 9JR

nick.pace@ggc.scot.nhs.uk