The issue focused on medical education and research in medicine, science and technology. The researchers looked at studies published between 1998 and 2012 that studied scientific literature from academic medical centers or biomedical research labs. They took into account study authors' publication records and researcher affiliations.

One theory was that scientists take money from industry to publish studies they think will support research funding. Another theory is that scientific journals pay researchers more if their studies find positive results for drug companies. In fact, studies show that academics who study drugs get