Elsevier to Create New Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Article Reprint, Compilation and Custom Publications

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - 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 (www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult ( www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (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 +1-212-462-1912 T.Reller@Elsevier.com

Source: Elsevier

Tom Reller, Director, Corporate Relations, Elsevier, +1-212-462-1912, T.Reller at Elsevier.com