How the Lancet lost our trust Stuart Ritchie The Spectator (UK) 26/06/2021
A few of us have tried to get Ritchie interested in the PACE trial, but he has previously refused. But since it now seems to support his argument, he does cautiously mention it.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-lancet-lost-our-trust
Article conclusion:
A few of us have tried to get Ritchie interested in the PACE trial, but he has previously refused. But since it now seems to support his argument, he does cautiously mention it.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-lancet-lost-our-trust
That lack of openness is also what caused a firestorm about the PACE trial, a study of exercise and psychotherapy for chronic fatigue syndrome published by the journal in 2011. This was a classic demonstration of the importance of transparency: critics of the study (of whom there are many) had to make a Freedom of Information request and wait years to see the data — at which point their re-analysis showed far less impressive results than the original.
Article conclusion:
The purpose of the Lancet, back in 1823, was to slice away the immorality and complacency of the medical establishment. Although there are many similarities between Wakley and Horton — both using catty editorials to attack their opponents, though only the latter with access to Twitter — Wakley would have been stunned to see that his journal now exemplifies that establishment. It embodies an unaccountable or only partially accountable elite that does often make progress, but fails abjectly to face up to its many faults.
In 2021, we might find that the best rejoinder to our establishment isn’t a new Wakley-style journal, but an entirely new way to think about science and how it’s published: a way that doesn’t hand over all our trust to editors and reviewers, but that emphasises openness and transparency right from the start. There are several proposals for how it could happen. The next rotten thing that needs to be cut away could be the journal system — and the Lancet itself.
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