Editors and Advertisements

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Abstract
Drug advertisements figure heavily in clinical journals. Indeed, the inclusion of ads directed toward the prescribing physician practically defines the journals as being clinical. Such ads merit particular scrutiny because the person they try to reach, the physician, is not the one who has to pay for the product. Goldstein,1in a witty and perceptive Commentary, questions whether the judgment of editors of clinical journals is affected by the fact that their journals are supported in part by money paid to them by pharmaceutical companies to publish ads for drugs. He draws a parallel between the editors' acceptance of ads and physicians' accepting gifts from drug company representatives. Indeed, he gives a partial, but impressively long, list of the freebies he has himself received: not, perhaps, the best stance from which to question the practices of others, but disarmingly honest. Having concluded that there is a problem with journals,

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