Lancet, Elsevier and the arms trade

The Lancet has a proud tradition as a medical journal of record dating back to 1823. The medical library world was shocked when in 1991 the title was purchased by Elsevier, a major commercial publisher. However, Lancet has continued to thrive under its new owners and has benefitted from its inclusion on Elsevier's very reliable ScienceDirect online journal platform and their investment in digitising all issues back to the very first 1823 issue.

Since 2005 a fresh controversy has been rumbling on and now seems to have come to a head. Elsevier is not just the world's biggest scientific publisher, but also part of a larger commercial group, Reed-Elsevier. In their business publishing arm sits Reed Exhibitions - a leading organiser of business exhibitions and trade shows, including arms trade exhibitions. This sits rather uneasily with Elsevier's medical journal publishing activity.

Back in 2005 The Lancet's editorial board called on Reed-Elsevier "to divest itself of all business interests that threaten human, and especially civilian, health and well-being". This has not happened. As a leading opinion former in the medical world the editors of The Lancet are in an uncomfortable position, as the BMJ noted last week. In today's issue there are three pages of letters protesting this link between medicine and the arms trade, and the editors set out their position.

The issue is also featured in today's Guardian.