Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Apr;18(4):294-7.
doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.20703.x.

The quantity and quality of scientific graphs in pharmaceutical advertisements

Richelle J Cooper  1 , David L Schriger, Roger C Wallace, Vladislav J Mikulich, Michael S Wilkes
Affiliations

The quantity and quality of scientific graphs in pharmaceutical advertisements

Richelle J Cooper et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2003 Apr.

Abstract

We characterized the quantity and quality of graphs in all pharmaceutical advertisements, in the 10 U.S. medical journals. Four hundred eighty-four unique advertisements (of 3,185 total advertisements) contained 836 glossy and 455 small-print pages. Forty-nine percent of glossy page area was nonscientific figures/images, 0.4% tables, and 1.6% scientific graphs (74 graphs in 64 advertisements). All 74 graphs were univariate displays, 4% were distributions, and 4% contained confidence intervals for summary measures. Extraneous decoration (66%) and redundancy (46%) were common. Fifty-eight percent of graphs presented an outcome relevant to the drug's indication. Numeric distortion, specifically prohibited by FDA regulations, occurred in 36% of graphs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Pharma's bad karma. Resistance is not futile.
    Carrasquillo O, Goodman RL. Carrasquillo O, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2003 Apr;18(4):315-6. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.30290.x. J Gen Intern Med. 2003. PMID: 12709101 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ewen S. Captains of Consciousness. 25th Anniversary ed. New York, NY: Basic Books; 2001.
    1. Cooper RJ, Schriger DL, Tashman DA. An evaluation of the graphical literacy of the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;37:13–9. - PubMed
    1. Cooper RJ, Schriger DL, Close RJH. Graphical literacy: the quality of graphs in a large-circulation journal. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;40:317–22. - PubMed
    1. Tufte ER. Multifunctioning graphical elements. In: Tufte ER, editor. Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, Conn: Graphic Press; 1983. pp. 139–59.
    1. Tufte ER. Data density and small multiples. In: Tufte ER, editor. Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, Conn: Graphic Press; 1983. pp. 170–75.

Substances