Last week, the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, retracted two COVID-19-related papers. One of those papers had reported on negative effects of hydroxycloroquine as a potential treatment option, leading to much controversy over the use of the drug. The reason for the retraction? Surgisphere Corporation, the company providing the underlying database of information that was analyzed in the study, refused to grant access to its raw data for independent review and verification of its origins.
This kind of ‘error’ in publication has dramatic consequences. Publications in one of the most respected medical journals in the world carry a lot of weight – major drug trials were immediately halted, treatment recommendations changed, based on its findings.
This shines a light on the challenges with scientific publications and the peer review process. The process, like most, and even in the most reputable circles, isn’t perfect. Some of it’s challenges include:
– Peer reviewers are unpaid volunteer scientists, who are not rewarded for the time they spend doing detailed review
– Original data are not typically required to be submitted for peer review, so there is no focus on verifying their legitimacy
– Scientist face significant pressures to publish as many papers as possible, since their careers are evaluated on it
– During this pandemic, there is also the added pressure of releasing information that might save lives as quickly as possible
The dangerous effects of getting it wrong in scientific publication can’t be understated. However, I hope that this will at least increase scrutiny on all publications and pressure on scientists and journals to ‘get it right.’ And we must all do our part to hold science up to the light, to see what passes muster.
Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications
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