Elsevier to Create New Guidelines for Pharmaceu...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, June 4 /PRNewswire/ --

    - Company Also Updates Findings Related to Australian Sponsored
Publication Practices From 2000-2005



    Elsevier, a leading international publisher of scientific,
technical and medical (STM) information products and services, announced
today it has moved to provide consistent internal guidelines for its
pharmaceutical services divisions when producing reprints, article
compilations or custom publications on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.
This initiative follows an internal review that was commenced when the
company became aware of a series of publications produced in Australia
between the years 2000 and 2005 that carried the name "journal of" but lacked
proper sponsor disclosures and were not in fact journals and should not have
been titled as such.



    Given the issues identified in the Australasian series, the
company is acting to ensure that all of its pharmaceutical services divisions
around the globe are following consistent sponsorship practices and
disclosure standards for various article reprint products. While these
pharmaceutical services divisions frequently reprint peer reviewed articles
from Elsevier, they are managed separately from the division that publishes
the company's core collection of primary research journals.



    Elsevier will review practices related to all article reprint,
compilation or custom publications and set out guidelines on content,
permission, use of imprint and repackaging to ensure that such publications
are not confused with Elsevier's core peer reviewed journals and that the
sponsorship of any publication is clearly disclosed. Elsevier expects to
complete its review and issue guidelines by June 30, 2009.



    "Full disclosure should be the standard at Elsevier, and we
need to strive every day to make sure that we enforce consistent global
guidelines for sponsorship and disclosure for article reprint products," said
Michael Hansen, CEO of Elsevier Health Sciences. "I want to assure our
authors, editors, and customers that the integrity of our peer reviewed
research journals has not been compromised in any way. These guidelines will
help ensure that there is no confusion between these special compilations and
our core collection of primary research journals."



    Elsevier and other STM publishers each year produce tens of
thousands of reprint products (authorized reprints of articles from original
primary journals), mostly one or two article reprints with paper covers
(compilation products), to more content rich products with reprinted peer
reviewed articles and other summaries, abstracts, case studies, conference
summaries and glossy covers (custom publications). These products are
produced for pharmaceutical companies and serve a valid and useful
educational and marketing purpose for these companies.



Update on the Internal Review of Australian Sponsored Journals

    Elsevier remains confident the 'Australasian Journal of'
series is an isolated practice led by former employees in a local
pharmaceutical services division. Within the 'Australasian Journal of'
series, the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint is the only title
identified as single sponsored without proper disclosure. An additional eight
"Journal of" titles were published with ads from multiple advertisers and
therefore did not call for additional disclosure. None of these nine titles
were primary research journals and should not have been called journals. An
additional 13 'Australasian Journal of' titles were registered to obtain
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) numbers, but were never printed.



    Single issues were typically distributed to between 2,000 and
10,000 general practitioners (GP) in Australia, and the company is aware of
one issue that went to 20,000 (the estimated total number of GPs in
Australia).



    Customized and reprint compilation publications, including the
'Australasian Journal of' series are not posted on Science Direct, Elsevier's
electronic journal platform for its peer reviewed STM journals. Also, they
are not required to be archived or retained.



About Elsevier

    Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical
and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with
the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over
70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per
year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such
as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (
http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/),
bibliographic databases, and online reference works.



    Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business
headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide.
Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a
world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science
and medical, legal, education, and business-to-business sectors, Reed
Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users,
with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed
Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock
Exchange), RUK, and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).


    
    Tom Reller, Director, Corporate Relations, Elsevier
    [phone]
    [e-mail]