Recent Journal Retractions: Flawed or Fraud?

Clinicians, researchers, and health reporters are accustomed to believing articles published in the best medical journals. No wonder, then, that many people were shocked when the two oldest medical journals, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine, recently retracted articles on a highly relevant topic at about the same time.

I have no inside information, but I do have some insights on medical journals generally, having served as editor-in-chief of JAMA for 17 years. I also founded the International Congress on Peer Review in Biomedical Publication (now called the International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication) and co-founded the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

So, what happened?

The NEJM paper, published May 1, 2020, had five authors, including two involved in the retracted Lancet study. The conclusion read:

Our study confirmed previous observations suggesting that underlying cardiovascular disease is associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death among patients hospitalized with Covid-19. Our results did not confirm previous concerns regarding a potential harmful association of ACE inhibitors or ARBs with in-hospital death in this clinical context.

On June 4, 2020, all five authors retracted the paperstating that they and a third-party auditor were not granted access to the primary data in order to validate the study.