STAT+: Medical journal receives U.S. attorney letter seeking information about alleged bias

This week, at least one scientific journal has received an unexpected inquiry from a top government official requesting that it detail some of the thinking behind its editorial practices. 

“It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates,” reads the letter, sent by the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward R. Martin Jr., to the editor in chief of the American College of Chest Physicians journal. 

The letter goes on to ask six questions of the journal, largely about alleged bias in the decision to publish content. 

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