The Role of Sponsored Supplements in a Peer-Reviewed Journal

Abstract

Over the course of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Aesthetic Surgery Journal , I’ve been asked several times by fellow Editorial Board members and readers whether I feel that publishing sponsored supplements is in the best interest of the Journal. Some of my esteemed colleagues have suggested that these article collections—which appear in a separate insert mailed with the main issue, address a specific clinical topic or product, and are industry-funded—give a false impression of partiality or endorsement on the Journal’s part, thereby effectively compromising scientific objectivity. On the other side of the coin, I receive regular notes from readers who have found clinical value in our supplements, including the special issue titled “Acellular Dermal Matrix: Fundamentals and Expanding Applications in Plastic Surgery,”1 published with our September 2011 issue. Although I certainly understand the concern of those who feel that sponsorship inherently affects author neutrality, I am confident in our strict peer review process and proud of the content that we’ve published in the main issues and our supplements. I’d like to share with you some of the reasons why I believe that our method of manuscript evaluation and disclosure ensures that the sponsored supplements that we publish are as useful and scientifically rigorous as possible. First, it is important to understand the mechanism by which supplements come to be published by a journal. This happens in one of three ways: (1) an industry sponsor works with investigators/authors to prepare a series of articles on its product and contacts journals in a relevant subspecialty to gauge interest after the material is complete; (2) the Editorial Board of a journal determines that the readership would benefit from focused discussion on a certain topic, invites authors to write manuscripts, and seeks sponsorship from one or several companies after the material is …