Bioethics · 2009 · 27 citations · 0 references
Public HealthHealth LawPublic Health EthicsCopyright LawMedical EthicsResearch EthicsClinical EthicsFraud ComplianceHealth Care FraudPublication EthicsResearch Ethics OversightResearch MisconductCompliance ViolationsFederal Government ReportingGuarantor CovenantsPenaltiesResearch Misconduct AdjudicationResearch Misconduct DetectionResearch Misconduct InvestigationResearch Misconduct Reporting
This paper focuses on medical ghostwriting in the United States. I argue that medical ghostwriting often involves plagiarism and, in those cases, can be treated as an act of research misconduct by both the federal government and research institutions. I also propose several anti-ghostwriting measures, including: 1) journals should implement guarantor policies so that researchers may be better held accountable for their work; 2) research institutions and the federal government should explicitly prohibit medical ghostwriting and outline appropriate penalties; and 3) a publicly available database should be created to record researchers' ethics violations.