Journal Editor Quits Over Conflict of Interest

The editor of a medical journal has resigned after drawing sharp criticism for failing to disclose his financial ties to a medical-device manufacturer after publishing an paper that endorsed one of its products. The editor, Charles B. Nemeroff, chairman of Emory University’s department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, was also a co-author of the paper, which said the device was an effective treatment for depression. The medical society that publishes the journal, Neuropsychopharmacology, attributed his resignation, in part, to bad publicity over the paper.

All of that news comes from today’s Wall Street Journal, which last month published a long article about the medical journal’s failure to note that Dr. Nemeroff and seven of his eight academic co-authors had financial ties to the manufacturer, Cyberonics Inc. A ninth co-author was an employee of the company. The medical journal subsequently published a correction noting those relationships.

The Wall Street Journal article appeared at a time when other medical journals were also under fire for failing to enforce their conflict-of-interest policies (The Chronicle, July 12 and July 19).