Codewords

There has been a brouhaha lately about "ghostwriting." Basicially, a pharma company writes an article and then pays a researcher to publish it under his or her name. Not very ethical, eh?

I recently came across this, in an editorial extolling a medicine made by Schering-Plough based on a study funded by Schering-Plough:

Editorial assistance was provided by Thomson Gardiner-Caldwell London, supported by the Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ.

I think I know what that means. Needless to say, the "author" has "consultant arrangements" and "is on the speakers bureau" of Schering-Plough as well.

This kind of thing is embarrasing and from a respected journal to boot.