Publication by association: the Covid-19 pandemic reveals relationships between authors and editors

Clara Locher (1, 2) , David Moher (3, 4) , Ioana A Cristea (5) , Florian Naudet (1, 2)

1 Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes [CHU Rennes] = Rennes University Hospital [Ponchaillou]
2 CIC - Centre d'Investigation Clinique [Rennes]
3 OHRI - Ottawa Hospital Research Institute [Ottawa]
4 University of Ottawa [Ottawa]
5 UNIPV - Università degli Studi di Pavia = University of Pavia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rush to scientific and political judgments on the merits of hydroxychloroquine was fuelled by dubious papers which may have been published because the authors were not independent from the practices of the journals in which they appeared. This example leads us to consider a new type of illegitimate publishing entity, “self-promotion journals” which could be deployed to serve the instrumentalisation of productivity-based metrics, with a ripple effect on decisions about promotion, tenure, and grant funding.

Mots clés: Bibliometrics; Conflicts of interest; Editor; Hydroxychloroquine; Research intergrity

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Médecine humaine et pathologie; Ethique

Clara Locher, David Moher, Ioana A Cristea, Florian Naudet. Publication by association: the Covid-19 pandemic reveals relationships between authors and editors. 2020. ⟨hal-03150830⟩