Payments to peer reviewers for The BMJ, JAMA, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine included over $1 billion to individuals or their institutions for research and $64.18 million in general payments, including travel and meals.

Among the nearly 2,000 physician peer reviewers analyzed, more than half received at least one industry payment between 2020 and 2022.

“pharmaceutical companies are the largest purchasers of preprint articles and that they advertise heavily in journals, which “affects what gets published.” “Obviously, pharma-critical articles are going to be published less often in journals supported by pharmaceutical companies, whose medical editors are supported by pharmaceutical companies, and whose peer reviewers are supported by pharmaceutical companies,” she said.

The authors said the study may have underestimated industry payments because it excluded non-U.S.-based physicians and reviewers who are not practicing physicians. It didn’t account for payments from other entities that may present conflicts of interest, including insurance and technology companies.

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