blog.bioethics.net

Pulling the sheet off ghostwriters

By Ricki Lewis

A report in the April 16 Journal of the American Medical Association exposes and laments the use of “guest authors” and ghostwriters on medical journal reports and review articles. A “guest author” is a researcher paid, such as by a pharmaceutical company, to lend her or his name when she or he has not actually done any of the reported work. We all know what ghostwriters are – the folks who write the tomes that celebrities without any experience in writing churn out, seemingly overnight.

An accompanying editorial calls for oversight of the guest author practice, but ignores the ghostwriter issue. Having been a ghostwriter, albeit rarely, I thought I’d comment.

What’s the harm? If a medical researcher with exciting results can’t tell passive from active voice and is incapable of writing a paragraph shorter than 4 pages, why not use a technical writer – a professional hired from a “medical publishing company,” according to the JAMA report. That gives the researcher more time to conduct research. After all, how many politicians speak without benefit of a speechwriter? The issue is of transparency – if a writer is part of the team producing a paper, say so. The investigators still scrutinize the drafts. And while we’re at it, why not actually credit the writer?

I’ve had varied experiences. I ghostwrote a tell-all novel for a bigshot at the National Cancer Institute, and published something X-rated in Playgirl under a nom-de-plume (not quite the same). I write news releases and parts of grants for another cancer researcher, and he fully credits me. Best of all was a gig last year to assist environmental scientists in drafting a response to the EPA’s reconsideration of the ozone standards. Another writer and I sat in on a 2 day meeting, and then we translated the jargon, acronyms, convoluted sentences, and endless repetitive phrases from the scientists into something that could be read without inducing coma. We were paid and credited.

Using a professional writer is nothing to be ashamed of. As a geneticist and a writer, I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode in which a dentist becomes Jewish for the jokes. Jerry didn’t know whether to be insulted as a Jew or as a comedian.

Ricki Lewis is the author of the novel Stem Cell Symphony and the textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 8th edition. She is a fellow of the Alden March Bioethics Institute.