Ghost Management: How Much of the Medical Literature Is Shaped Behind the Scenes by the Pharmaceutical Industry?
PLoS MedicinePublished 19 September 2007Open access
Sergio Sismondo
Citations252
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score4.28
SNIP3.21
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TL;DR
Sismondo discusses how pharmaceutical companies and their agents shape multiple steps in the research, analysis, writing, and publication of articles.
Abstract
Sismondo discusses how pharmaceutical companies and their agents shape multiple steps in the research, analysis, writing, and publication of articles.
Keywords
Social SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and FinancePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics
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