“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research […]
Month: January 2011
Tracey Koehlmoos: Loss of access to global health journals in Bangladesh and beyond
Earlier this week, my organization was blindsided by the news that 2500 journals were being withdrawn from access using HINARI. For anyone unfamiliar with HINARI, it is an acronym for […]
Martin McShane: Take me to your leader
There are a number of variants on the cartoon about an alien asking someone or something to “take me to your leader.” Of course we all laugh because we can […]
Richard Smith: How to stop the medical arms race?
Growth in spend on healthcare grew faster than growth in the gross domestic product in every OECD country between 2000 and 2008. That’s the main reason why every country, including […]
Andrew Burd on plagiarism revisited
I recently shared some thoughts on plagiarism, which is an issue of significant concern to teachers, academics generally and journal editors. Now another concern has been raised and although this […]
David Nicholl: It’s the BMJ wot won it, and the NHS should think like Tesco
In November, I had decided to challenge the impasse over the availability of an effective, but unlicensed, medication for Lambert Eaton Myasthenic syndrome by writing an FP10 for the cheaper […]
Seye Abimbola: Reflections on the non-existent health system
Imagine a country without a health system; imagine the chaos, and inefficiency. In such a setting, the only form of health systems research necessary would be to generate evidence towards […]
Tony Falconer on leading healthier lives
The coalition government seems keen to engage with individuals and organisations, to help them help themselves lead healthier lives. This, we are told, will be done through encouragement and collaboration […]
Lesley Henderson: Cot death in EastEnders
The current cot death story in BBC soap opera EastEnders has generated numerous complaints to the BBC and regulatory body Ofcom. One of the actors involved is now reportedly leaving […]
Liz Wager: Does the Wakefield et al case mean we should demand public access to raw data?
The latest chapter in the sad saga of the Wakefield et al paper on the MMR vaccine raises some difficult questions about access to individual patient data. It is possible […]