EDITOR—I quit English when I found that all the theses and the few monographs or surveys on the topic I wanted to know about (in that case love poetry) failed to define their terms. They plunged into their topic without having the faintest idea of what they were writing about, or if they did have they didn't let on.

I now have a strange sense of déjà vu: how is it possible for authors to write an article—and get it published in the BMJ no …