AMA sacks JAMA editor

Last Friday the American Medical Association sacked George Lundberg, the editor of JAMA for 17 years, for "inappropriately and inexcusably interjecting JAMA into a major political debate that has nothing to do with science or medicine."

The charge relates to the fast tracking of an article reporting an eight year old study of college students� beliefs about oral sex, given sudden relevance by President Clinton�s impeachment proceedings. The survey, apparently due for publication in the 20 January issue, found that 59% of student did not believe that oral sex constituted "having sex."

In a forthright statement announcing his decision, the AMA�s executive vice president, E Ratcliffe Anderson, apologised "to JAMA�s readers, its contributors, and to any others who feel that JAMA has been misused in the midst of the most important Congressional debate of this century." Anderson also said that this was not an isolated incident and that he had been losing confidence and trust in Lundberg�s abilities for some time.

Titanic hits Lundberg

Anderson has only recently been parachuted into the AMA�s top job, in the wake of the Sunbeam sponsorship fiasco that had decimated the association�s senior management. If Anderson was wanting to establish who was boss by taking a prominent scalp then he couldn�t have chosen a more prominent one than Lundberg�s. Lundberg had become one of the best known doctors in the American media. Indeed, his appetite for publicity formed the basis of an unflattering profile in the New York Times Magazine last June.

Under his editorship, JAMA has thrived - steadily closing the gap between it and its main North American rival, the New England Journal of Medicine. In recent years, Lundberg has spent much of his time soliciting articles from both inside and outside America, poaching important papers on health policy, public health, and outcomes research from under NEJM�s nose.

Condemnation of the AMA�s action came fast: Iain Chalmers of the UK Cochrane Centre and a member of JAMA�s editorial board described Anderson�s actions as outrageous."Indeed, I feel sure that I am not alone in hoping he will pay a severe price for his ill-judged interference in the editorial freedom of Dr Lundberg, a man who deserves the lion�s share of the credit for JAMA being the respected journal that is is today."

Marcia Angell, executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, told the New York Times that Lundberg�s decision to publish the paper "is not a reason to fire an editor who�s been there 17 years and by almost anyone�s estimation has put a small society that no one took seriously on the map."

St. George Tony Delamothe, web editor

Read

JAMA's press release

Could this happen here?

Medical journal editorials

BMJ (23 January 1999)

Lancet (23 January 1999)

JAMA (3 February 1999)

CMAJ (23 February 1999)

The media's response to the sacking

Tell us what you think about Lundberg's firing

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Unfair AMA politics: J Sam Miller
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
JAMA now under dark cloud of heavy handed censorship: Iain Chalmers
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
World Association of Medical Editors condemns sacking: Fiona Godlee
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
AMA's act of barefaced and open censorship: Saveli Bashinski
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
The George D. Lundberg Award for editorial integrity: Magne Nylenna
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Meritocracy and Democracy.: B M Hegde
bmj.com, 19 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Fair trials: Christian Gluud
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
A bad example to the world: M McKee, et al.
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
POLITICS AND MEDICINE: Edwin Dias
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Support George Lundberg, M.D.: Joel R Cooper
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Ignore the Irrelevant in Responses to Sacking: Barry Pless
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sensationalism or timely reporting?: Marilyn Fayre Milos
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg dismissal reflects serious defects: Hilliard Jason
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Council of Biology Editors Condemns Firing of JAMA Editor: Patricia Huston
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Politics, sex, and the AMA: Michael Callaham
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg wave crosses Pacific: John Dowden
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Anderson's Apology: Michael Innis
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Stalin is back at AMA?: Zviad Kirtava
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Re: The George D. Lundberg Award for editorial integrity: Trish Greenhalgh
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Since when does "information" become "influence"?: Andrew Vickers
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sacking of an Editor: Pramod P Bapat
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
An irresponsible infringement of editorial freedom: Bruce P Squires
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Science and politics in Lundberg's firing: Gerard Harbison
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
The AMA should not mix its own politics with science: Anna Donald, et al.
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
AMA - the hypocritical political animal: Thomas Williams
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Picayune!!: Adele Kalinowski
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Black Beacon's Day: Lai-Meng Looi
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Transparency Revisted?: L F Ng
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Copy of Sackett's letter to AMA: David L Sackett
bmj.com, 20 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sacking of an editor: readers have rights too.: Tom Oommen
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Re: Re: The George D. Lundberg Award for editorial integrity: Geert Aufdemkampe
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
World medical journal editors should unite in protest petition: Simon Chapman
bmj.com, 21 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Shameful: Sukdershan Singh
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Managerial ethics and editorial ethics: John Last
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
This is not the way, Anderson: G R Sridhar
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Dark cloud of sanctimonious cliche settles on BMJ website: Douglas Carnall
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Boycott JAMA?: Michael Bracken
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Re: The AMA and Its Editors: Don Madison
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sacking of George Lundberg: Brian Haynes
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg Desereved What He Got!: Ali Najafabadi
bmj.com, 22 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Decision weakens AMA: Kenneth J Rothman, et al.
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
American Medical Writers Association disapproves of firing: Barbara C Good
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
AMA member's response: Charles D Price
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Is this the American virtue?: Noritoshi Tanida
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Getting past polarization: Timothy R Berigan
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Politics in Scientific Journalism: Jerald R Schenken
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Where does this lead to?: Norbert Hasenoehrl
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Re: Editorial Independence more Complex than Suggested: Andrew D McLean
bmj.com, 23 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Stop it: Hans Huisman
bmj.com, 24 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Relevance and the AMA: Ira P Gunn
bmj.com, 24 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Letter to Nancey Dickey, President of the AMA: Don Berwick
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
sigh!: James Byam
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Creator or a puppet?: Piotr Gajewski
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Response to Dr. Anderson of the AMA: Hilliard Jason
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Its a blow. Jobs and humour: C J Price
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Medico-political lynching: Ralph E Yodaiken, et al.
bmj.com, 25 Jan 1999 [Full text]
ICMJE open letter to the AMA: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Walk the talk: David C Kibbe
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
The Demise of the American Medical Association: Raymond Scalettar
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Hasty action.: G A Balint
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
JAMA Editors Respond to Comments on Dr. Lundberg's dismissal: Bill Silberg
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg Dismissal: Scientific Outrage: Kathleen N Lohr
bmj.com, 27 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg, a victim of AMA politics: A Waise
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Firing Dr. Lunberg is a serious and tragic error: Paul Gorman
bmj.com, 26 Jan 1999 [Full text]
editors should get together: Franco Cavalli
bmj.com, 27 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sacking of the JAMA editor seriously undermines the credibility of JAMA: Somnath Mukhopadhyay
bmj.com, 27 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Code of practice required for societies as regards editorial freedom: J M Grant
bmj.com, 28 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Editors, dry your eyes: Andrea O'Donnell
bmj.com, 28 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Editorial independence of JAMA: E Ratcliffe Anderson
bmj.com, 28 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Of course sex is relevant to medicine!: Ayelet Kuper
bmj.com, 30 Jan 1999 [Full text]
AMApalled: John Bramhall
bmj.com, 30 Jan 1999 [Full text]
The firing was just and REQUIRED: Malcolm Kahraman
bmj.com, 28 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Sacking of JAMA editor hypocritical: Daniel W Smith
bmj.com, 30 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Re: Editors, dry your eyes: Charles D Price
bmj.com, 30 Jan 1999 [Full text]
He should have been Sacked...: Martin
bmj.com, 30 Jan 1999 [Full text]
Press freedom: P Xavier
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg should be reinstated: Jayant S Vaidya
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Sex is a part of life: Gabi Caswell
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Re: Copy of Sackett's letter to AMA: Ursula R Pfister
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
A well deserved fate: R Pidsley
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Unite against interference: I Gordon
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Untitled: Richard T James
bmj.com, 1 Feb 1999 [Full text]
BMJ response to a survey with political context: Norman Vetter
bmj.com, 2 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Lundberg firing a long time coming: Timothy Wheeler
bmj.com, 2 Feb 1999 [Full text]
A plague on both of them: Jim Thornton
bmj.com, 2 Feb 1999 [Full text]
My full support: Anders Arhammar
bmj.com, 4 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Evaluation process for medical editors should be fair: Joseph F Waeckerle
bmj.com, 4 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Hasty: Colin Mackenzie
bmj.com, 4 Feb 1999 [Full text]
The AMA picked a general: Mayo Johnson
bmj.com, 4 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Re: Science and politics in Lundberg's firing: Arthur S Elstein
bmj.com, 4 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Good Ridence: Harold Helbock
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Joint Statement from AMA and George D. Lundberg, MD: E Ratcliffe Anderson
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
A blow to scientific publications: Juan F Schuhl
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
No more submissions to JAMA: James Dwyer
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Does the AMA want this kind of leadership?: Eliabeth C Burton
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Re: Editors, dry your eyes: Elizabeth C Burton
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
AMA - Philosophy or Hipocrisy?: Dana Ann Troxclair
bmj.com, 7 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Re: Joint Statement from AMA and George D. Lundberg, MD: David L Sackett
bmj.com, 9 Feb 1999 [Full text]
British interest is impressive: John A Ewing
bmj.com, 11 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Re: A well deserved fate: Charles Price
bmj.com, 10 Feb 1999 [Full text]
Scientific freedom and fun: Margaret Shirley
bmj.com, 13 Feb 1999 [Full text]
What Next - Blindfolds or earplugs ?: Victor D'Cruz
bmj.com, 17 Feb 2000 [Full text]