Uniform ICMJE Conflict of Interest Declaration Form: Report of Test Use in Croatian Medical Journal in 2009-2010

Abstract

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), of which the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) is a member journal, published the revised uniform conflict of interest declaration form on July 1, 2010 (1). ICMJE journals used the test version of the form during the last year, after the publication of its initial statement on the new form for declaring conflict of interest (2). The form was made available for the public use since October 2009 (2). The main purpose of the uniform declaration statement was to simplify and standardize reporting on conflicts of interest in the biomedical research community but also to make important information accessible to the wider readership. The uniform declaration form of the ICMJE came in the middle of the debate in the United States (US) about the need for the transparency in the relationships between physicians and industry. The debate resulted in the Physician Payment Sunshine Act (3), which will come into effect in the US in 2013. This act would require yearly reporting of all physician payments over a cumulative value of US $100 and the statement would be available to the public.