University of Strathclyde/ British Medical Journal

ESRC PhD Studentship (Sociology)

The Department of Geography and Sociology at the University of Strathclyde  
has been awarded an ESRC Collaborative Doctoral Studentship in partnership  
with the British Medical Journal for the topic ‘Communication ethics in  
medical journal publication’. The PhD will be supervised by Prof David  
Miller and Dr William Dinan at Strathclyde and Dr Deb Cohen and Trevor  
Jackson at the BMJ and will start in October 2010.

Candidates should have:

A First Class or Upper Second Class Honours degree in an appropriate  
discipline;

A masters degree in an appropriate discipline, preferably a masters with  
ESRC recognition  or equivalent. Applicants who do not hold a masters  
degree will be considered if they can demonstrate sustained and relevant  
experience and meet the criteria outlined in the ESRC guidelines;  
Candidates with additional life experience and/or experience of working in  
journalism or investigative research are especially invited to apply.

Candidates must meet the ESRC's academic criteria and due to funding  
regulations, must be either a UK national, or be a non-UK national who  
satisfies ESRC eligibility criteria. Applicants are advised to consult the  
Studentship Handbook   
(http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/support/postgraduate_students/studentship_handbook/)  
and other guidance on the ESRC website www.esrc.ac.uk, to establish  
whether or not they meet these requirements.

To apply, you should send:

A covering letter

A current CV

A transcript of your qualifications to date, and anticipated results if  
you are still studying.

Two letters of reference to be included with the rest of your application.

Applications should be sent to:

Prof D Miller
Department of Geography and Sociology
Graham Hills Building
50 Richmond Street
Glasgow
G1 1XN

Deadline for Applications is Friday 25 June.  Candidates may be required  
to attend for interview in the week commencing 5 July.


Further Details:

Communication ethics in medical journal publication

The issue of the ethics of scientific publication has become an important  
policy issue in medical and associated journals. A series of high profile  
lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies has revealed that the phenomenon  
of 'guest authorship' or 'ghost-writing' is (or was) widespread.(Ross et  
al 2008) Medical journals and industry trade associations have responded  
by tightening their guidelines.

Both journals and industry trade associations have also been concerned  
about questions of disclosure and conflict of interest.  A debate has  
ensued in various medical journals about the relationship between  
corporate funding and research results.

All these cases raise ethical questions and appear to be part of a wider  
set of concerns with transparency and conflict of interest in public  
life.  This project will investigate the extent and nature of these  
ethical challenges and examine how regulatory actors and scientific  
journals have responded to them.  It is anticipated that the research will  
lead to practical recommendations on how to handle the ethical questions  
raised.

The project brings together the complementary expertise of Professors  
Miller (transparency, ethics and scientific communication), Dr Dinan  
(expert groups, knowledge production, and transparency), Dr Cohen  
(Assistant Editor at the British Medical Journal, in charge of  
investigations) and Trevor Jackson (Senior Editor at the BMJ).

The project will need to approach the question of ethical conduct from a  
variety of perspectives, looking historically at the emergence of these  
issues as well as horizontally across the range of organisations involved  
- including most importantly medical journals, scientists, government  
regulators, patient groups, industry, industry trade associations and  
lobby groups and medical communication companies (which has been a  
significant and growing specialism in the field of public relations for  
the last decade).  There are a variety of studies of practices such as  
'ghost writing' or 'disease mongering' but there are very few studies  
which look comprehensively at the complex issues here in a holistic way.

Goals
This study aims to build on the foundations of the recent policy and  
knowledge exchange work undertaken by the academic and non academic  
partners.  Specifically this proposed study will:

1.      Systematically map the genesis of concerns about communicative  
ethics in science publishing. This element of the research will document  
both ethical and unethical practice;
2.      Examine the relations between journal editors, publishers,  
authors, professional / commercial service providers and research users in  
relation to questions of communicative ethics. Compare how different  
organisations manage such pressures and conflicts in publishing and  
analyse how the transmission of ideas and 'best practice' occurs within  
these networks;
3.      To trace the influence of unethical practice on the medical  
literature, through the selection of a number of case studies.
4.      To contribute to policy debates on transparency and science  
communication ethics with particular reference to continuities and  
differences between how different actors involved in medical research and  
publishing deal with problems associated with ethics and independence;

The student will complete a doctoral thesis by 2013.


The Studentship

The Doctoral award includes the full payment of fees to the University  
plus a basic maintenance grant. The annual standard rates of maintenance  
paid by the ESRC will be in the region of £15,290. There is a Research  
Training Support Grant of £750. In addition the BMJ will provide financial  
and in kind support towards the costs of fieldwork and other activities.   
The award will run for three years from 2010-2013.  The student will be  
expected to be based in Glasgow, but to undertake three extended  
placements at the offices of the BMJ in London during the studentship.

For further information on recognised Masters course see  
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/How/For_Postgrad_Students/?data=%2fFrXHTl993p9WtoTGV4vVwwqXhAkIvW4S0BhocpD6E9P6n41a6AOx9BO0%2bQzuIUB5C8AtpgRoYQW5CNnM3x0msr8weoUk0DNE1hruJ8E97Y86tQvO%2bGKnI6gV%2bcego2SYvox%2fWhAoUj3z7H57j0WLkP6bs3%2b%2fugTykkku6SHx3eqkZyqXeeDV1tb7xl5pBDQLDdLg61LzukrOYVD%2bcF6Yw%3d%3d&xu=0&isAwardHolder=&isProfiled=&AwardHolderID=&Sector=

For further information please contact Prof David Miller,  
[log in to unmask] or 07786 927 551


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