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Comparative Study
. 2014 Jan 8;9(1):e84790.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084790. eCollection 2014.

Differences in the volume of pharmaceutical advertisements between print general medical journals

Jennifer Gettings  1 , Braden O'Neill  2 , Dave A Chokshi  3 , James A Colbert  4 , Peter Gill  5 , Gerald Lebovic  6 , Joel Lexchin  7 , Navindra Persaud  8
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Differences in the volume of pharmaceutical advertisements between print general medical journals

Jennifer Gettings et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

  • PLoS One. 2014;9(2):e91628

Abstract

Background: Pharmaceutical advertisements have been argued to provide revenue that medical journals require but they are intended to alter prescribing behaviour and they are known to include low quality information. We determined whether a difference exists in the current level of pharmaceutical advertising in print general medical journals, and we estimated the revenue generated from print pharmaceutical advertising.

Methods: Six print general medical journals in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom were sampled between 2007 and 2012. The number of advertisements and other journal content in selected issues of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), Canadian Family Physician (CFP), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), British Medical Journal (BMJ), and Lancet were determined. Revenue gained from pharmaceutical advertising was estimated using each journal's 2013 advertising price list.

Findings: The two Canadian journals sampled (CMAJ, CFP) contained five times more advertisements than the two American journals (JAMA, NEJM), and two British journals (BMJ, Lancet) (p<0.0001). The estimated annual revenue from pharmaceutical advertisements ranged from £0.025 million (for Lancet) to £3.8 million (for JAMA). The cost savings due to revenue from pharmaceutical advertising to each individual subscriber ranged from £0.02 (for Lancet) to £3.56 (for CFP) per issue.

Conclusion: The volume of pharmaceutical advertisements differs between general medical journals, with the two Canadian journals sampled containing the most advertisements. International and temporal variations suggest that there is an opportunity for all general medical journals to reduce the number of pharmaceutical advertisements, explore other sources of revenue, and increase transparency regarding sources of revenue.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: James A. Colbert was an editorial fellow at the New England Journal of Medicine. Navindra Persaud is an Associate Editor for the Canadian Medical Association Journal. All other authors have declared that no competing interest exists. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The mean number of pages of pharmaceutical ads, 2007 to 2012.
Figure 2
Figure 2. The mean ratio of the number of pages of pharmaceutical advertising to number of pages of journal content, 2007 to 2012.
Figure 3
Figure 3. The mean number of pages of pharmaceutical ads (based on three issues per year, see text), 1970 to 2012.
Figure 4
Figure 4. The mean ratio of number of pages of pharmaceutical ads to number of pages of journal content (based on three issues per year, see text), 1970 to 2012.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

    1. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2013 Media Kit. Available at: http://www.cmaj.ca/site/pdfs/cmaj-2013.pdf. Accessed 2 August, 2013.
    1. British Medical Journal Advertising Opportunities 2013. Available at:http://group.bmj.com/group/advertising/Print%202013%20Media%20Pack.pdf. Accessed 2 August, 2013.
    1. The Journal of the American Medical Association 2013 Print Edition Rate Card. Available at:http://files.jamanetwork.com/jn/jama_rates_2013.pdf. Accessed 2 August, 2013.
    1. New England Journal of Medicine 2013 U.S. rates, specifications & general information. Available at: http://www.nejmadsales.org/wp-content/uploads/NEJM_US_RateCard_2013.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2013.
    1. Canadian Family Physician 2013 Rate Card. Available at: http://www.cfp.ca/site/misc/Advertising/RateCard2013.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2013.

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