23rd
March
2007
Doctors are revolting!
While looking up a story about how harmful various drugs are in The Lancet (more on that later), I found the editors of the journal, as well as a considerable number of their colleagues, expressing their disapproval of their publisher, Reed Elsevier, engaging in and even organizing arms exhibitions. They say:
When the connection between Reed Elsevier and the arms trade was drawn to our attention in 2005, we joined our International Advisory Board to ask the company to divest itself of this part of its business. We argued that the arms trade was incompatible with the professional values of a health-science publisher—promoting health and wellbeing, reducing death and disability, respecting human rights, and showing concern for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. Reed Elsevier supported our freedom to say what we did, but has so far declined to pursue our request.
They go on to point out that a number of professional associations have called for a boycott of all Reed Elsevier publications, including The Lancet, to encourage the publisher to divest. Despite this it seems the editors have chosen to go down with the ship rather than abandon principle. Good on them.
posted by saurabh in Dharma | 0 Comments
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