Interface between authorship, industry and science in the domain of therapeutics

Abstract

BackgroundChanges in the character of medical authorship.AimsTo compare the impact of industry-linked and non-industry linked articles.MethodWe compared articles on sertraline being coordinated by a medical writing agency with articles not coordinated in this way. We calculated numbers of Medline-listed articles per author, journal impactfactors, literature profiles and citation rates of both sets of articles.ResultsNon-agency-linked articles on sertraline had an average of 2.95 authors per article, a mean length of 3.4 pages, a mean Medline listing of 37 articles per author (95% CI 27–47) and a mean literature profile of 283 per article (95% CI 130–435). Agency-linked articles on sertraline had an average of 6.6 authors per article, a mean length of 10.7 pages, a mean Medline listing of 70 articles per author (95% CI 62–79) and a mean literature profile of 1839 per article (95% CI 1076-2602). The citation rate for agency articles was 20.2 (95% CI 13.4–27.0) and for non-agency articles it was 3.7 (95% CI 3.3–8.1).ConclusionsThe literature profiles and citation rates of industry-linked and non-industry-linked articles differ. The emerging style of authorship in industry-linked articles can deliver good-quality articles, but it raises concerns for the scientific base of therapeutics.