Most of the articles in the publication presented Merck products favorably, which makes it seem as if the phony journal was developed for marketing purposes without actually indicating itself as project sponsor, said TheScientist.com. “I’ve seen no shortage of creativity emanating from the marketing departments of drug companies,” said deputy director of the public health research group at the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen, Peter Lurie. Lurie reviewed two issues of the fake journal, which was obtained by TheScientist.com and added that, “But even for someone as jaded as me, this is a new wrinkle.” TheScientist noted that, other than ads for Merck’s Fosamax and Vioxx, there were minimal other advertisements.

News of the questionable, Merck-created journal started surfacing with a report by The Australian and emerged from information from a civil suit filed against Merck by a patient who suffered a heart attack while on Vioxx, said TheScientist.com. George Jelinek, an Australian physician and established member of the World Association of Medical Editors, reviewed four issues and testified at the trial, said TheScientist. Jelinek explained that the “average reader,” which in this case, would be a physician, could believe the journal to be “genuine” and peer-reviewed, noting that, “Only close inspection of the journals, along with knowledge of medical journals and publishing conventions, enabled me to determine that the Journal was not, in fact, a peer reviewed medical journal, but instead a marketing publication,” reported TheScientist.

Jelinek noted a good portion of the journal’s articles focused on Merck drugs with favorable verbiage. Adding to the lack of credibility, the so-called review articles contained surprisingly sparse referencing—most review articles are rife with citations and references….