JAMA’s new rule on whistleblowers creates controversy

The announcement by the editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association that, in future, anyone writing to the journal about a possible conflict of interest on the part of authors must keep silent while their allegations are investigated has aroused a storm of criticism.

The new policy (http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc/jed90012pap_E1_E3.pdf) was announced after Jonathan Leo, professor of neuroanatomy at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, and Jeffrey Lacasse, of Arizona State University, published a letter online in the BMJ in which they criticised a study published in JAMA and pointing out that the lead author had not reported a conflict of interest (http://bmj.com/cgi/eletters/338/feb05_1/b463#208503,9Feb2009).

The American Medical Association, JAMA’s owner and publisher, has said in a press release that it is referring the controversy to JAMA’s journal oversight committee. It said, “While we are ultimately responsible for these publications, as most …