Behind the Scenes at JOEH: Questionable Actions Lead to the Publication of an Industry-funded Benzene Exposure Article and Refusal to Publish Letter to the Editor

Abstract

This Commentary discusses the decision-making and conduct of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) and its Editor in Chief (EIC) regarding two versions of a scientifically flawed benzene exposure article published in JOEH.1,2 The author of this commentary submitted a letter to the editor concerning an “Accepted” manuscript (AM)1 published on the JOEH website. JOEH did not publish the letter, but permitted the authors to make at least nine substantive revisions to the AM that were all responsive to Letter 1. The AM was removed from the JOEH website and replaced by a Short Report (SR)2 having the same title. Questions of publishing ethics arise as a result of the refusal by JOEH to publish any of my additional Letters to the Editor, submitted between May and December of 2018. JOEH failed to address author conflicts of interest and major analytical testing anomalies that led to scientifically untenable results. Further, JOEH did not require the authors to disclose that 1) all tabulated results were drawn from an unpublished 2017 report prepared by the authors for the study sponsor (CRC Industries), and 2) one of the authors based her testimony on behalf of CRC on the unpublished report in at least two trials. JOEH’s refusal to publish the Letters to the Editor regarding undisclosed conflicts of interests, flawed scientific results, misleading conclusions, and other issues brings up numerous ethical questions.