RESPONSIBILITY, HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY ARE THE ESSENTIAL BASIS OF ETHICAL MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING
- We, the under signed, vigorously protest:
1) the grossly irresponsible and damaging editorial misuse of The Lancet for political purposes and
2) the abject failure of the owner/publisher, Reed Elsevier, to enforce appropriate ethical standards of editorship.
- “An open letter for the people in Gaza” by Manduca et al, published in The Lancet on July 22, 2014 consists of numerous vicious and deliberately inflammatory falsehoods, omissions and abusive dishonesty, which have no place in any responsible publication.
- The Lancet, its editor, Richard Horton, and the owner/publisher, Reed Elsevier, should comprehensively retract the article and formally apologize for their grave breech of editorial ethics. It is inconceivable that such stereotypical extremist hate propaganda, under the selective and hypocritical disguise of medical concern, should remain available on the pages of any reputable journal.
- The collaboration of the academic community with Reed Elsevier and its journals is based on trust in their maintaining high ethical and scientific standards. None of us is under any obligation to submit and review material for publication in their journals or to serve on their editorial or advisory boards.
- We invite all scientists and clinicians who value honesty and ethical conduct in publication to support this complaint by adding your signature below so that we can inform Reed Elsevier about the depth of concern among the professionals on whom they depend for their business.
Full text of the letter: Complaint to Reed Elsevier