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Editorial

Nature Biotechnology 26, 476 (1 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/nbt0508-476

Nothing to see here

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) played a considerable part in manufacturing media outrage last month over an article 'revealing' Merck's use of ghostwriters and rubber stamp experts in the preparation of clinical research articles on Vioxx (rofecoxib). Although the JAMA article (299, 1800–1812, 2008) revealed nothing new about the ghostwriting practice and so-called 'guest' authorship, the JAMA editors nevertheless felt moved to introduce a new, stricter set of policies on authorship and conflicts of interest.