Academic journals caught in smokescreen

Publishers of globally respected academic journals are investigating the publication of papers linked to a foundation solely funded by one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies.

Tobacco kills more than eight million people each year, according to the World Health Organisation. Picture: iStock

Publishers of globally respected academic journals are investigating the publication of papers linked to a foundation solely funded by one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies.

At least three major academic publishers are reviewing how articles linked to the Foundation for a Smoke Free World were published without explicitly disclosing funding that originated from Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro and Peter Jackson cigarettes.

The Australian last Wednesday exposed how Philip Morris polluted academia through the Foundation for a Smoke Free World, launched four years after the ­tobacco giant ­announced it would move into the e-cigarette and vaping market.

The foundation lists more than 70 academic works – many of which concern vapes and e-cigarettes – in its library. The majority disclose funding from the foundation but not Philip Morris.

About 12 disclosed assistance from PMI Global Services, a subsidiary of Philip Morris founded in 2007, while six do not disclose funding from the foundation.

University of Bath research associate Tess Legg said the link between the published work and the tobacco industry was often concealed by inadequate conflict-of-interest and funding disclosures.

“Even if the foundation is disclosed as funder, there’s no reason why the general reader would know to link that to Big Tobacco’s involvement, and know to be cautious of the findings and conclusions,” she said.

“This echoes what we know about the tobacco industry historically – that it funded third-party scientific organisations to conduct and disseminate research that would support (or at least not threaten) its interests, and that these third parties were used to conceal the provenance of the funding from the public and experts alike.”

Veteran Australian anti-smoking campaigner Renee Bittoun said she was horrified that an article with links to the cigarette giant was published in the Journal of Smoking Cessation, which she founded and of which she remains editor-in-chief.

The paper, which concerned barriers to quitting smoking in Pakistan, disclosed funding from PMI Global Services and the foundation but stopped short of naming Philip Morris.

Professor Bittoun said a sub-editor had failed to realise the significant potential of conflict of interest in relation to the article and an investigation into how the piece was published had begun.

“We have added a correction to the article to make explicit the source of the funding and alerted the Research Integrity Team of the Journal to improve vigilance and awareness by editorial staff and to enforce a policy of not ­publishing any material funded by the tobacco industry or its subsidiaries,” she said.

“I also wish to state in the strongest possible terms that my position in relation to the tobacco industry has not in any way changed. They continue to cause immense harm and should not be able to steer or manipulate public opinion under the guise of academic inquiry.”

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Nicole Higgins said Philip Morris’ business was nicotine addiction and the foundation was nothing more than a “fig leaf”.

“Researchers should be careful about accepting funding from the foundation, lest their work ­become a smokescreen for Philip Morris’ pivot to vaping products,” she said.

“If the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World isn’t asking if vaping is safe – not safer than smoking, but safe as a practice – it’s not meeting its values of integrity or transparency.”

Tobacco kills more than eight million people each year, according to the World Health Organisation. A review by the widely respected British policy institute, ­Cochrane, found rates of quitting smoking were higher when ­people used vapes and e-cigarettes than when they used ­nicotine replacement therapies such as patches.

A spokesperson for Springer Nature said the publisher would discuss the published works with the relevant editors after foundation-linked papers were published in a number of titles.

“We believe that it should be simple for authors to credit their funding sources, for readers to understand what these sources are, and for funders to see the works of authors they fund,” said the spokesperson.

Foundation for a Smoke-Free World communications vice-president Nicole Bradley said the foundation encouraged full disclosure of funding.

A Philip Morris spokesman said the company was “precluded by the foundation’s statute from having any influence over how it spends its funds”.