Interesting case study raised by the Retraction Watch blog.
A 2009 journal article – promoted in a news release by the journal – and picked up by many news organizations – has now been retracted by the authors.
But now the journal issued no news release about the retraction – an issue of transparency that the RW blog raises.
And you can guess how much news coverage the retraction will get.
And this was all over a molecule that could supposedly “make breast tumors respond to a drug to which they’re not normally susceptible” – as the RW blog put it. But it was also a molecule, RW points out, that wasn’t even in clinical trials yet.
He/she who lives by the journal news release risks one’s longterm credibility.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Case counts still matter. “(There) are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalizations and deaths are emphasized.” @garyschwitzer interviewed by @dbauder of @AP. https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76
My friend Gary @garyschwitzer wrote to his city council representative in a Minnesota town about a Viva Las Vegas event scheduled for January.
The response he got seems to perfectly capture where we are now.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/12/2021-ends-with-covid-craziness-in-sports-and-politics/
Comments (8)
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Gunther Eysenbach
December 3, 2010 at 11:19 amI’ve written about another case – where there was also an empirical evaluation of how much attention the retraction got – and “retraction ethics” here:
Eysenbach G, Kummervold PE
“Is Cybermedicine Killing You?” – The Story of a Cochrane Disaster
J Med Internet Res 2005;7(2):e21
doi: 10.2196/jmir.7.2.e21
Elaine Schattner, M.D.
December 3, 2010 at 12:42 pmYes, of course a retraction should get equal attention as the initial statement of fact.
Carolyn Thomas
December 8, 2010 at 6:24 pmSeems there’s been a wee rash of journal retractions lately – like the case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the now-discredited darling of the autism/childhood vaccination-link conspiracy movement whose 1998 study published in The Lancet was finally pulled (12 years later!) after its evidence was described by the journal’s editors as a “a damning indictment of the man and his research.”
And last month, we learned of the Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr. Linda Buck who has been forced to retract not one, not two, but THREE of her published peer-reviewed journal articles.
This really pokes a damning finger at the entire peer review system, not to mention the reputation of those whose current and future work gets published.
I for one am doing my small bit to help increase coverage of retractions! See more on THE ETHICAL NAG: MARKETING ETHICS FOR THE EASILY SWAYED: “Nobel Prize Winner Forced to Retract Three Flawed Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles”
Gregory D. Pawelski
December 16, 2010 at 2:32 pmTop retractions of 2010 by TheScientist. A list of the biggest papers and scientists involved in retractions in the last year.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57864/
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like