
An American Medical Association journal has corrected four articles on two top US tobacco researchers, after the authors failed to disclose their ties to the e-cigarette company Juul, STAT reported.
The articles, co-authored by Ray Niaura and David Abrams, both New York University professors, include a highly-cited study which compared the level of toxic substances that users of e-cigarettes are exposed to versus users of regular cigarettes.
A second study examined whether e-cigarettes influenced usage by young adults who had previously used traditional cigarettes.
STAT uncovered the pair's ties to Juul, revealing the matter last month. On Tuesday, the site emphasized that "there is no evidence that Juul played any role in any of the articles."
The articles were corrected Tuesday by JAMA Network Open, STAT noted. In addition, STAT received confirmation from the editors of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research that the journal decided to issue a correction, and the Annual Review of Public Health has issued an erratum.
In addition, Tobacco Control, the American Journal of Public Health, and Science —have begun investigating whether the authors violated their conflict of interest policies, spokespeople for the journals told STAT. It is not yet clear whether the journals will issue a correction.
According to STAT's report, both Niaura and Abrams frequently collaborated with Juul, allowing company executives to review an academic article prior to publishing, attending Juul scientific advisory board meetings, and dining with company executives. None of these activities were revealed to the public or to journal publishers.
Meanwhile, the pair insists that they were never formal advisers to the e-cigarette company and were not paid for their work, and thus had no obligation to disclose their connections to Juul. They did, however, say that in hindsight, they would have reported these interactions to journal publishers.
All of the JAMA Network Open articles now disclose that both authors "between mid-2015 and 2020 [were] frequently communicating with Juul Labs personnel, for which there was no compensation, and receiving hospitality in the form of meals at some meetings."
STAT's report has also prompted Annual Reviews to re-evaluate how it manages various potential conflicts of interest, its editor-in-chief said.