Among 2, 195 reference citations, published during 1975 in ten major US medical journals, 634 (29%) were found to be erroneous on direct checking of the original source. The percentage of error within individual journals ranged from 14 to 50 per cent. Such a high error rate would seem to seriously diminish the usefulness of published reference lists and, possibly, raise questions about the accuracy of other portions of the literature also.

Both science and the public can be harmed by premature or inaccurate publicity. Physicians' concern centers on the damaging effects of inaccuracy and sensationalism and on the hazards of invasion of privacy. Balancing these concerns is a legitimate desire by the public to know about scientific progress. Medicine has fairly specific ethical guidelines for physicians' conduct in this area; an analogous code for science writers might help to control the occasional abuses of trust by these writers. At the same time physicians must become more skillful in communicating information.