Consumer advertising and doctors' prescribing

Editor—Eaton reports that medical editors have issued guidance on ghost writing.¹

As a regular peer reviewer for medical journals I am sometimes surprised to see doctors writing on themes that I know are outside their usual field of interest or knowledge. About two years ago I was reviewing such a paper submitted electronically when I made an amusing discovery: when I turned on the track changes function, commentaries made by the drug company popped up. Needless to say, I rejected the paper.

As we all know, the problem with ghosts is that it is very difficult to prove their existence. This was a rare example of ghost tracking.