JAMA editors let tempers fly over "nothing" - March 16, 2009
For “a nobody and a nothing”, neuroanatomy professor Jonathan Leo sure seems to have riled the editorial staff at JAMA.
The tempest began when Leo, a professor at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, wrote a letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) about a paper published by JAMA last May. The JAMA paper's authors supported the use of an antidepressant to prevent depression in patients recovering from stroke. The antidepressant, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor called escitalopram (Lexapro), is produced by Forest Pharmaceuticals. But in his letter, Leo noted that lead author Robert Robinson of the University of Iowa had been a speaker for Forest Pharmaceuticals four years earlier – a conflict of interest that had not been disclosed in the original paper. Leo used this as an example of how “the scientific machinery is broken” by hidden conflicts of interest and the medical culture that has nurtured them.
Shortly thereafter, JAMA published a letter from Robinson acknowledging the conflict of interest and blaming the omission on the usual culprit: "errors of memory". (Kudos to the Knight Science Journalism Tracker for heaving a weary sigh at that one.) Meanwhile, according to the WSJ Health Blog, JAMA’s editors also took the time to make a few phone calls to Leo and his supervisors to question his decision to publish the letter in BMJ rather than allowing editors to first handle the matter confidentially at JAMA. Leo says the phone call to him was threatening (“You are banned from JAMA from life. You will be sorry,” he quoted JAMA executive deputy editor Phil Fontanarosa as saying); JAMA denies Leo's account of the call.
But JAMA’s editor-in-chief, Catherine DeAngelis let her anger show in an interview with the WSJ. “This guy is a nobody and a nothing,” she said. As for the content of her phone calls to Leo’s superiors: “it is none of your business.”
Comments
Really interesting and highlighting news! “This guy is a nobody and a nothing,” JAMA’s editor-in-chief, Catherine DeAngelis said. She isn't right, in my opinion. In fact, such as guy has proved the scientific true of a article of mine, untill now nobody has falsified: "Middle Ages of today’s Medicine, Overlooking Quantum-Biophysical-Semeiotic Constitutions and Related Inherited Real Risk". www.sciphu.com November 4, 2008. http://sciphu.com/2008/11/meadle-ages-of-todays-medicine.html
Posted by: Sergio Stagnaro | March 16, 2009 09:52 PM
Dr. Leo needs to get a blog or twitter account, stat!
Posted by: Mr. Gunn | March 16, 2009 10:01 PM
Einstein was a nothing until after his awkward proposal. Reporters asked him to explain "relativity". He replied, "If I am wrong the Germans will call me a Jew, and the French will call me a German. If I am right the Germans will call me a German, and the French will call me a Jew."
Scientists are humans. The dynamic of challenging results and retesting hypothesis is the purifying grace of science.
Posted by: Keith Beatty | March 16, 2009 10:10 PM
Looks to me the person that is nobody and a nothing is Catherine de Angelis herself Uah how could an editor of a prestigeous journal like that get trapped in such a mess.
Posted by: MORTON SCHEINBERG MDPhDFACP | April 1, 2009 03:25 AM