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Medical Journal Ghostwriting Being Questioned on Capitol Hillby Heidi Stevenson23 November 2009 
Senator Charles Grassley,Republican from Iowa After the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that medical journals have routinely been publishing ghostwritten articles, Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, became concerned. He has asked how it differs from plagiarism and initiated an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, on which he is the ranking Republican. The concern expressed by JAMA is that the ghostwriters are not named, but are provided by pharmaceutical corporations, which may insert bias into the reporting. Senator Grassley has started the inquiry by sending letters to top medical schools asking them to describe their policies on ghostwriting. He has written, "Any attempt to manipulate the scientific literature, which can in turn mislead doctors to prescribe treatments that may be ineffective and/or cause harm to their patients, is very troubling." Unfortunately, the universities that employ researchers who have allowed their names to be put on papers they didn't write have been slow to respond. Pharmaceutical companies that are accused of the practice of providing medical ghostwriters include AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Wyeth, which was recently purchased by Pfizer.
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