On research integrity and ethical publication, authorship and accreditation

ABSTRACT

@#In 2013, multiple articles reporting the clinical trial of valsartan, an antihypertensive drug of more than US$ 1 billion annual sales from Novartis, were retracted due to data falsification.1,2 These included the Kyoto Heart Study presented by Dr. Hiroaki Matsubara at the European Society of Cardiology 2009 Congress and subsequently published in the European Heart Journal (EHJ).3,4 Aside from retraction of this article by EHJ, the American Heart Association (AHA) also retracted five papers published in three of its journals -- Circulation, Circulation Research, and Hypertension.4 Novartis employees were involved in the conduct and analysis of the Kyoto Heart Study and a second investigator-initiated trial, the Jikei Heart Study,5 although their participation was not acknowledged in publications and presentations of the data, while a Novartis employee who allegedly manipulated statistical data was listed as one of the academic authors, without disclosing the relation with the company.