Trust is needed to balance editorial independence and accountability

News p 273

Earlier this week the Massachusetts Medical Society, owner of the New England Journal of Medicine, announced that Jerome P Kassirer, the editor, would be leaving. His tenure will end in eight months, but he will start a seven month sabbatical at the beginning of September. The Boston Globe, which broke the story, reported that Kassirer had been fired.1 The society denied this and said his contract was simply not being renewed. His precipitous departure, seven months after the firing of George Lundberg, editor of JAMA,2 is likely to cause another round of soul searching over balancing editorial independence and accountability.

Kassirer has fallen out with the Massachusetts Medical Society over the use of the powerful brand name of the journal, a battle also fought by his predecessor. The society …