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FEATURE: Gareth Williams Should medical journals carry drug advertising? No BMJ 2007; 335: 75 [Full text]

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Marketing vs medicine

Joan McClusky   (18 July 2007)

Marketing vs medicine 18 July 2007
Joan McClusky, Medical writer New York, NY 10003 Send response to journal: Re: Marketing vs medicine	Ask any editor from the "good old days" of medical journals, ie, 20+ years ago, about content vs ad copy and the discussion invariably turns to supplements. Once upon a time, the standards for supplement copy were the same as those for the articles in the "regular" journal issues. This practice was abandoned at many journals when the journal salesfolk started running the show. The result? Supplements became considered little better than birdcage liners. Some journals refused to allow supplements to be listed as legitimate references. The pendulum swung back to the point where many journals have ferocious standards for who is paying for a supplement vs who is reviewing/developing the copy and content. It takes a powerful editorial group, and a marketing group that understands when to stop, to make sure that appropriate divisions are maintained. Competing interests: None declared