Scientific Publishing: Defining the Proper Role of Industry -- Opinions & Insights
The following are additional insights and perspectives provided by members of The Science Advisory Board who participated in this study. Members are identified only by their Science Advisory Board user name.

Generally, advertising just adds to the clutter in a scientific journal. Sometimes, they can point you to new products, however mostly they are just a distraction. Proven techniques in published papers are more valuable than advertising.
brilane, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

Most of the time I am really looking for a paper that is interesting to me. An ad must be very creative to call my attention. In addition to that, it is not always that your lab is purchasing big equipment, and if so, colleagues' opinions are probably what affects more my lab decision to buy something
abreu, Post Doctoral Fellow

Already well covered.
TChase9290

It is my strong opinion that if gain more knowledge through journal there are wide spectrum in the selection of any items from the purity, strength, cost point of view.
nilesh, Staff Scientist

Ads are for good. The comparison ads between different, same kind of products are especially valuable.
ultradna, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

Don't want to see suppliers drive or manipulate publishing of scientific research or invade the "space" allocated to original research papers or academic reviews.
Susan Yeyeodu, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

It is hard to specified only one (1) important journal, as you requested at the end of part one.
egilad, Post Doctoral Fellow

A truly independent and trustable journal for product comparison would be welcome.
sparent, Staff Scientist

The head-to-head comparisons done in publications like The Scientist are very useful not only for the comparison but also for just getting all the information in one place. I'd like to see it taken a step further and have a consumer reports for scientists style publication.
Dante, Professor/Teacher

I find that in general, the ads in scientific journals keep me abreast of new product developments in my field and if they are relevant, I take the time to get more detailed information. I also get some information from trade shows or company promotional seminars as well as the free donuts!
crab27, Staff Scientist

The most frustrating thing for me is that the companies do not give out the real useful information, which can enlighten the user. They call that information proprietary. As a consequence they help produce people who can use kits, follow protocols, get results but don’t really understand what it is that they did and why they did it. One of my postdoctoral fellows was having difficulty with a particular experiment. I asked him how much a certain ion was in his buffer. He took out the kits from the freezer and told me that he added so many microliters of a and so many microliters of b and so on. I asked him what was in there. He said he didn’t know because that information was not there. I called the company and asked about it. They said it was proprietary. I have many examples like this. I think what the companies are doing is producing a generation of kitologists who do hunky-dory when the kit works but are totally lost when it doesn’t. I think the companies have to rethink their strategies.
shyam dube, Professor/Teacher

An important feature of advertising is that it helps to lower the costs of subscriptions.
kingram, Professor/Teacher

Ads in scientific journals are usually much more honest and trustworthy source of information then traditional ads. However, before buying something expensive I always discuss it with people -- in Usenet or real life, trusting it more then even seemingly unbiased articles in magazines.
Biologuary, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

I find most advertising to be informative of new products and methods. However, sufficient technical advice or experience with methods/techniques is not always present and available from manufacturers. Certainly, claims are made that cannot be validated by vendors. The best references are often colleagues who have tested/used particular products with success (or failure) and most often for specific purposes that are appropriate for what I wish to do.
trbrown, Principal Investigator

Ads generally lead me to try and find out more information about the product, for example, technical information or protocols on a web site. The information I like to see is information substantiating the claims in the ad. I appreciate ads that inform me about new products or improved products. The second question, which asked me to choose the single most useful information in journals, was not a good question. I think editorials and commentary and reviews of recent articles are very important, but without the research article themselves, to look at after reading the reviews, they would not exist. The only answer a person can choose, if they have to choose just one, is research articles, since that is the primary purpose of scientific publications. The only place one can get such information is scientific publications (print or on-line).
VickyvS, Principal Investigator

There is nothing wrong with accepting ads in any scientific publication so long as it is clearly indicated as such, so that the readers are not confused improperly.
wthc

The publishers must be more responsible while accepting the advertisements, especially if tall claims are made in them.
ancha, Principal Investigator

Advertisements are probably a necessary mishaps, but one we can handle most of the time.
rrsotres, Professor/Teacher

I use the resources discussed above to maintain a large personal database sorted by suppliers, techniques, web tools and web databases.
timf, Principal Investigator

In any case: price list
photos, Principal Investigator

The above questions failed to acknowledge the fact that many people like myself read journals such as Cell in a university library and so some of the following questions were inappropriate.
TG1951, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

I think that the income from advertising reduces publication costs. Therefore, ads are necessary and only sometimes helpful.
T.Rat, Post Doctoral Fellow

The criteria vendors use to define their products rarely reflect "real" lab conditions
youngh, Principal Investigator

Although it is usually easy to distinguish ads, there have been a couple of cases recently in Nature where what appeared to be a 'special' topic or article turned out to be an advertisement. That's rather underhanded. The first part of this survey was slightly difficult to answer as by far the majority of news, newspapers, press releases and technical and scientific journals that we have access to in my lab are online.
rgrant, Staff Scientist

Ads really don't lead me to buy or promote items to colleagues. I usually just depend on others who have used a product.
vanA, Professor/Teacher

Web pages with complete information about the product, associated research articles demonstrating or using the product, and pdf files for product descriptions, use, and contents are most helpful for me in deciding whether to pursue a product.
philmorin, Principal Investigator

Reliability of information is on a strong decline. Setting up window-dressing for the customer is noticeable as the prime goal. Conformity to formal criteria is considered by the vendors as the main goal to pursue, not in-depth quality in which customer could have full confidence.
biev, Professor/Teacher

In order to keep up with my research interests and the more general advances in my fields, I scan at least 18 journals, not including reviews. If I see features reviewing new products for a particular technology that I use frequently, like PCR, I will read over the article. I don't have time to be browsing ads, which ultimately are of limited use, since they can't possibly include the information I would need to make an informed purchase.
kmcs, Post Doctoral Fellow

Much of my scientific reading is shifting now to online journals, and I have been canceling paper journal subscriptions.
kaplane, Professor/Teacher

I would like to see advertisers pay more for ads so that journal subscription rates are lower!
JohnEndler, Professor/Teacher

I appreciate very many integral descriptions of chemical properties, especially stability and safety procedures to be observed.
Silberg, Professor/Teacher

I would like to see more ads that contain information about availability of samples or trial sizes. It is difficult to invest heavily in something new without trying it first.
jethrod1, Principal Investigator

Information on the web of vendors most useful
hafagerh, Staff Scientist

We do not get the printed version of American Clinical Laboratory
jbgreter, Staff Scientist

Every ‘vendor’ is cheating in his ads, wherever it may appear; what might still capture my attention is something funny. Eventually, what counts however, is whether the thing works and is affordable.
Mi.Bo., Graduate Student/Research Assistant

Ads that appear in peer-reviewed journals are not endorsements for that particular product. The journals allow advertising to generate revenue.
4CLARKE, Principal Investigator

I'm usually suspicious of ads in journals with smaller circulations, but in those cases see them as provided revenue to small societies. All bets are off in something like BioTechniques, which advertises products that seem more likely to be bogus.
badams, Principal Investigator

The ads often exaggerate the products ability. This is very frustrating, as you read the ad in detail do a bit of research into the product and then waste a lot of time finding out about the product. Only then do you speak to a sales rep and ask a specific question regarding the use of the product, only to find out that you cannot use the product for your needs!
whalie, Staff Scientist

Read nearly all journals on-line...so do not see many ads in journals
susjw, Post Doctoral Fellow

I find ads to be very important information conduit with regards to my being able to keep up to date with new methods and developments.
jterner, Principal Investigator

Ads are helpful to lower subscription fees and prevent page charges and somewhat would surely improve some scientific journals as long as the editors remains independent in selecting scientific manuscripts for publication. Ads in scientific journals also somewhat improve the flow of information about new developments in techniques. But it is important for me, as a reader to concentrate on the scientific content and only take a closer look to ads being momentarily interesting for actual needs in the lab.
haribo, Staff Scientist

I am more apt to further investigate a product if an ad announces a free online demo or free gift. Also, I like ads that have the website in a very prominent place. This is the first place I go to further investigate a product, and I hate having to read the small print to find the web site address.
BioRabbit, Staff Scientist

I do feel that there is a danger in allowing unrestrained advertising in peer-reviewed journals. Major advertisers have the right to decide to pull their funding based on the results research presented in a particular journal, and, in that regard, have the potential to exert inappropriate influence over the journal, research scientists, or both.
welte

Some journals have advertisements between the contents pages (e.g. American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology). This makes the journals practically unreadable. I no longer read these journals except to copy specific articles from literature searches.
gdent, Principal Investigator

Appreciate candid comments of experts.
D. C. White, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

Ideally, advertisements should be restricted to non-peer reviewed journals. Given that this is not likely to happen, I think it better that peer-reviewed journals limit advertisers to relatively brief "ads" that have the appearance of ads-- and strictly refuse to print longer, more detailed "product or company information" sections.
debandtom

Clear ads, such as those (majority) found in genetic engineering news are well laid out. Some that spell out the product’s uses are especially valuable because most researchers are crunched for time. Don't put an average ad with a website to learn more. Keep in simple, sweet, and easy to understand. Clever ads that include humor are always a plus, too!
Zubin, Staff Scientist

Advertising in scientific journals, magazines and newspapers is a good practice. It helps to know about new products independently from the oral transmission between colleagues.
eritja, Principal Investigator

Whilst peer reviewed journals are valuable, they can take a long time to publish information in a rapidly changing field. Perhaps the internet may enable publishers to improve their time to publication?
Tim Adlam, Staff Scientist

I rarely notice advertising, unless it is for a technique/equipment I am currently interested in.
Tomato, Staff Scientist

Life science is producing too much information for one scientist or even a group to go through. So there is clearly a need for improving a kind of review or digest of what is coming out.
jojema, Professor/Teacher

I only read Nature Biotechnology on-line. I do not have a paper subscription
igerman, Post Doctoral Fellow

While they are sometimes excessive, I think for the most part they are good source of information.
llckuiper

I feel BioTechniques is to date the best source of new product information.
RPM, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

Many of the peer-reviewed journals that I read do not have ads in them; these are the journals that I tend to take more seriously. Nature and science are more "recreational reads" that I don’t always use for/cite in research.
Lizard, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

As for the question "how easy is it for you as a scientist to distinguish between scientific versus promotional information in scientific journals, magazines and newspapers?" these days it is very difficult to tell, even with peer-reviewed, scientific articles the difference between a scientist and a snake-oil scientist. Financial (present and future) disclosures should be printed in all journal articles after the "contact the author or author affiliations part" on the bottom margin.
scientist, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

I didn't like the last question on the first page. My answer should have been "none of the magazines mentioned above". Instead I had to choose one of the magazines to continue. The magazine which I read most regularly is the "laborjournal", it is in German and available only in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In general, your studies tend to be too much America-focused.
Thomas_Hettmann, Post Doctoral Fellow

Sometimes ads are incomplete and may result misleading to the reader.
Jusepe, Principal Investigator

With respect to the question above "do you consider most scientific journals, magazines and newspapers that accept advertising to be independent, non-biased sources of information about the products, instruments and services used in your area of research?" it depends on the manner in which an article is written, i.e., a non-biased review by someone not connected with the company versus a biased advertisement written by a company's advertising department.
Henry E. Young, Principal Investigator

Too much information
rslany, Principal Investigator

Product support is very important. Us suppliers are very parochial and seem to have great difficulty in dealing with and supplying abroad.
Stuart, Principal Investigator

I understand the need to generate revenue by publishing ads but on the whole the ads just "take up space" in the journal.
dave77, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

I feel that there can be no one-way. Most often one talks to peers and find out what they have before one purchase things. Sometimes it is difficult to find a good product. We often have problems in proper and timely supply etc
acshekar85, Post Doctoral Fellow

There is a need for independent evaluation of competing research products
dariov, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

It is not an unacceptable way for promoting research
kokee, Professor/Teacher

Should be critically reviewed
zero, Principal Investigator

Thank you
Butterbee333, IS Manager/Specialist

I worked for several years as a lab scientist in a big pharma and read Nature, Science, Nature Biotech, Genetic Eng. and now as a sales manager for a distributor in molecular biology (NEB, Clontech...) I surprisingly still find the most valuable information in the same newspapers even if my readings are more oriented to commercial ads and application notes. I believe interesting newspapers are the ones useful for anybody working in the same research field (ex.: Mol. Biol...) Whatever your sales reps are research fellow or marketing. This is my short experience (I’m 31 years old).
Phil

In my opinion any procedure is useful and valuable when correctly used on truly basis. Why not?, and, as we say in Spain lie has short legs...
advise, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

Most of the time I read the on-line version of the journals. Therefore, I don't read the ads.
jcardina, Principal Investigator

Ads were much more useful when I was a grad student, but with the advent of the internet I really do not look at them much. I have tossed much of my technical literature (which goes old fast) and when I need something check out a catalog or the web.
Oberon, Principal Investigator

Good quality technical journals should somehow be made available at a much lower price--e.g. Ones from Nature, aiche journal.
goldconsul

Most scientists aren't like most consumers. A flashy add is not going to get them to buy things, real information on the product will. Most of the questions on this survey seem to suggest some marketing guru things he/she knows how scientist think (like common consumers) and in my experience they don't and this makes some of the questions here not very useful or don't fit the situation properly.
mthomas, Staff Scientist

I feel that ads should be honest and true. Sometimes they are very misleading and they lead to make the scientist buy the product and later repent
tsucheta, Staff Scientist

You have to distinguish between the ads that are science based and those that are 'marketing agency' based. It's usually clear one contains useful information and the other is a glossy 'sell'.
hepbura

When allowed publicity in a scientific journal should be clearly indicated as it and in a number sufficient to lower the publication cost only.
Gab, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

I think it is very difficult to express an independent opinion when funded by industry. Unfortunately, the main aim for industry is to sell as much as possible. In that sense, competition among companies is good for scientists because it forces companies to lower their prices and produce more useful information about their products.
Susana, Post Doctoral Fellow

If time is limited (and it often is), the advertisements get ignored in favor of relevant scientific information!
cattoilet, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

Kudos to those who have time to read a journal cover-to-cover but for the majority of people who probably only open a hard copy of a journal because Medline (or non-med equivalents) pointed them to an article, ads are probably becoming less effective.
Apismellifera, Post Doctoral Fellow

Good survey.
ericfairfield

As long as advertisement is labeled as such (and it is almost always done so), I see no problem in peer-reviewed journals decreasing the cost to the final reader (buyer) by accepting commercial information.
jrborbolla, Principal Investigator

When people run when they see a rep coming, I think ads in journals are necessary and quite frankly less time consuming than meeting with a rep. An ad is an ad is an ad...like all advertising you have to ask the right questions when you are looking at new technology or improving old.
JLaffin, Graduate Student/Research Assistant

Ads are extremely important in alerting scientists to new equipment/techniques long before articles may appear using the new equipment... Also useful are the journal supplements, provided the info is fair-balanced and perhaps peer-reviewed.
johnleslie, Professor/Teacher

The primary source of information on new products and techniques is word-of-mouth. Overt scientific advertising can be either eye-catching or an impediment to reaching the journal's real content, depending on mood, but is rarely a significant source of information.
dabeed, Principal Investigator

The first part of this questionnaire assumed that I receive a hard copy of the journal Nature Biotechnology. The truth is, however, that our library has, but I find it more useful to access the online journal (accessibility; quality of copies; possibility to generate an library from the interesting papers; hyperlinks; ease of looking up information on products on the producer's web site; etc)
JanJoseph, Post Doctoral Fellow

I think that suppliers are able to mislead and lie to potential buyers to get a sale. I think that there is no accountability for suppliers to provide what they promise and no way for professionals to complain to a forum that will investigate misleading advertising.
rkmaii

Sales reps often do not even know about the newly advertised products. Therefore companies should ensure that their reps are at least informed and can give adequate detail about the new products. Scientific journals were mainly designed to report on scientific results and some of them are now being overtaken by the ads, soon they might resemble everyday newspapers that have more ad content than relevant information. Companies would better spend the money on producing publishable results with the new products rather than just the ads. Good results with the new products are the best ad for the product.
Agnes, Post Doctoral Fellow

The number of ads in BioTechniques is quite high so that the ads/scientific content ratio is approaching a level that will move this publication more toward an AM Biotech product category than Cell.
Harryo, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

Multiple products on a single page ad preferable to single product ad. Advertisements should be simple, not visually distracting and where possible conform to a standard format. Snappy ads in magazines are great. However, in technical journals, they're simply distracting...we just want the info...not the company image.
Telford, Professor/Teacher

The promotion of free gifts with the purchase of science consumables may lead to poor science if greed on the part of the purchaser outweighs good scientific judgment as to the selection of the best product for the job.
pnacman, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator

If the journal's website had an "ad-contact" page that displayed the ads and provided links to the ad-holders, that would be useful to readers and a possible revenue enhancer for the journals, which could possibly allow for free (or cheap) on-line access to the journals.
ocraven, Principal Investigator

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