Dr Rhona MacDonald objected to changes by editor-in-chief to editorial about aid, and sought to distance herself from it
A senior editor at the Lancet has been sacked for gross misconduct following a dispute over an editorial published in the medical journal earlier this year.
Dr Rhona MacDonald objected to changes made by the Lancet's editor-in-chief, Richard Horton, to a leading article she had written about overseas aid in March.
"After two months of disciplinary procedures, I have been dismissed from my position as senior editor of the Lancet for putting my ethical obligations before the policies of Elsevier, the Lancet's publisher," MacDonald said in a statement.
Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier, the £6bn publishing giant which is quoted on the London stock market.
MacDonald's draft leader praised the then Labour government's record on debt relief and the work carried out by the Department for International Development (DFID).
The published version struck a far more sceptical tone, acknowledging that progress had been made but criticising DFID for failing to find ways to measure the effectiveness of its aid programmes.
MacDonald claims it was changed without her consent, and after the objections of senior colleagues were ignored.
MacDonald said in her statement: "The editor of the Lancet rewrote an editorial that I had written on behalf of the Lancet (all Lancet editorials are signed "the Lancet") that changed the whole meaning of the editorial without giving me, as lead author, or the rest of the leader-writing team, the opportunity to make any comments or suggestions before the editorial went to press."
At the time of the dispute, senior sources at Elsevier insisted that the Lancet had followed its normal editorial rules and that MacDonald had been notified about the proposed changes.
MacDonald warned her contacts in government and at NGOs about the editorial and sought to distance herself from it. "I contacted the contributors to the editorial (people I had interviewed on the agreed pitch to help shape the editorial) to apologise and to let them know what had happened as was my ethical, professional, and journalistic duties towards them. I also sent them the published version of the editorial and my original version," she said.
Sources at the company continue to insist it is not unusual for the Lancet's senior editors to disagree about the line taken by the magazine. It is thought that they were concerned about the damage MacDonald's actions could do to the Lancet's reputation.
MacDonald worked at the Lancet for nearly four years and is understood to have had a close working relationship with Horton.
She appealed unsuccessfully against the decision to fire her and subsequently turned down a proposed tax-free payment of £10,000 from the company, the equivalent of around two months' wages.
MacDonald said: "I have loved working for the Lancet and for the three years and nine months that I worked there was devoted to strengthening the journal's global health work. I respect my former Lancet colleagues and am deeply saddened that my time at the Lancet has had to end in this way."
Elsevier said in a statement. "We have respected the confidentiality of the circumstances of Rhona's departure from the company and wish to continue to do so. We consider it appropriate to make it clear that the company does not agree with the statements Rhona has made upon her departure, but we do not consider it appropriate to comment further."
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