AMA Chair Calls For Review Of JAMA Controversy

On Friday, Joseph Heyman, the AMA's board chair issued a statement in response to the Alliance for Human Research Protection's call for an investigation of a recent fracas involving a Lexapro study and unreported conflicts of interest by one of the study authors. The basic story is that JAMA's editor in chief and a deputy editor went gangster on a separate researcher who brought the matter to JAMA's attention. Heyman's statement reads:

"The American Medical Association is owner and publisher of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and its specialty Archives journals. While we are ultimately responsible for these publications, as most in the medical and journalism professions are aware, these journals are editorially independent of AMA. That means we do not review or interfere in what is printed in these journals.

"Recently, concerns have been raised over how JAMA editors addressed a conflict of interest issue brought to light by Professor Jonathan Leo. As owner and publisher of JAMA, we take these concerns very seriously.

"In accordance with the Editorial Governance Plan for JAMA, this entire matter is being formally referred to the Journal Oversight Committee (JOC). The AMA is requesting that the JOC examine the concerns related to Professor Leo’s inquiry and upon completion present its findings to the AMA Board of Trustees. The AMA Board will give careful consideration to whatever is reported to it by the JOC."

It sure sounds like JAMA's editor in chief, Catherine DeAngelis, created a ton of trouble for herself when she lashed out at Leo. There's background on all this here and here.