The Times on Our Conflicted Medical Journals

Last week, the Wall Street Journal's David Armstrong wrote several stories raking the Journal of the American Medical Association and Neuropsychopharmacology over the coals for failing to disclose to readers that their contributors had ties to drug manufacturers. The most notable part of the New York Times editorial today that played off that news was the paper's call for journals to "try much harder to find authors free of conflicts. That is the best hope for retaining credibility with doctors and the public." It took a few years, but even the Times now realizes that disclosure doesn't go far enough.