Interest In Medical Journals Research Articles

Journal bias or author bias?

I read with interest the comment by Mark Wilson in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics regarding bias and conflicts of interest in medical journals. Wilson targets one journal (the New England Journal of Medicine: NEJM) and one particular "scandal" to make his point that journals' decisions on publication are biased by commercial conflicts of interest (CoIs). It is interesting that he chooses the NEJM which, by his own admission, had one of the strictest CoI policies and had published widely on this topic. The feeling is that if the NEJM can be guilty, they can all be guilty.

Conflict of interest in medical journals

Conflict of interest in medical journals

Conflict of interest in medical journals.

Conflict of interest in medical journals.

Conflicts of interest in medical journals

Las revistas medicas son una fuente de informacion de gran importancia para los profesionales en medicina, para los pacientes y para los encargados de disenar las politicas. Por lo tanto, es crucial que toda informacion y publicaciones en dichas revistas sean confiables y fidedignas. Esta claro que los conflictos de intereses (CDI) pueden lastimar la credibilidad de una publicacion y/o de una revista y tener consecuencias de largo alcance, socavando la confianza de los lectores de dichas publicaciones medicas. Este editorial pretende abordar algunos temas importantes relacionados con el CDI en revistas medicas. Especificamente se hara referencia a la definicion y tipos de CDI, asi como a las practicas recomendadas para resolver tales conflictos. En la labor editorial medica, todas las partes involucradas en la publicacion de un determinado articulo pueden tener CDI. Entre ellas estan los investigadores, los autores, los miembros de la junta editorial, el personal de la editorial y los editores. Ademas, las fuentes de financiamiento de la revista y la sociedad profesional u organizacion a la cual pertenece la revista pueden tambien tener CDI. El Instituto de Medicina ha definido el CDI como el «conjunto de circunstancias que generan el riesgo de que el criterio o las acciones profesionales respecto a un interes primario se vean indebidamente influenciados por un interes secundario»1. En el caso de una revista medica tipica, el interes primario seria «promover y proteger la integridad de la investigacion, el bienestar de los pacientes y la calidad de la educacion medica». Sin embargo, el interes secundario que podria entrar en conflicto y/o viciar el interes primario pudiera ser financiero o no financiero. Los CDI financieros han recibido atencion en los ultimos anos, siendo relativamente faciles de rastrear y cuantificar. Por otra parte, los CDI no financieros han recibido menor atencion; en contraste

Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals: The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) Position on a Challenging Problem

Conflict of interest in medical publishing exists when a participant’s private interests compete with his or her responsibilities to the scientific community, readers, and society. While conflict of interest is common, it reaches the level of concern when “a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual’s behavior or judgment was motivated by his or her competing interests” (1). Having a competing interest does not, in itself, imply wrongdoing. But it can undermine the credibility of research results and damage public trust in medical journals.

Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals: The World Association of Medical Editorsʼ Position on a Challenging Problem

Conflict of interest in medical publishing exists when a participant's private interests compete with his or her responsibilities to the scientific community, readers and society. While conflict of interest is common, it reaches the level of concern when 'a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual's behavior or judgment was motivated by his or her competing interests'.[1] Having a competing interest does not, in itself, imply wrongdoing. However, it can undermine the credibility of research results and damage public trust in medical journals. In recent years, the extent of conflict of interest in medical journal articles has been increasingly recognized. Medical journals and the popular media have published numerous examples of competing interests that seemed to have biased published reports.[2–4] Organizations have expressed concern for the effects of conflicts of interest on research,[5] publication[1,6,7] teaching[8] and continuing medical and nursing education.[9] The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) is one of the institutions engaged in this discussion. WAME was established in 1995[10,11] to facilitate worldwide cooperation and communication among editors of peer-reviewed journals, improve editorial standards and promote professionalism in medical editing.[12] Membership in WAME is open to all editors of peer-reviewed biomedical journals worldwide; small journals in resource-poor countries are well represented. As of December 2009, WAME had 1595 individual members representing 965 journals in 92 countries. WAME has broad participation as there are no dues and WAME activities are largely carried out through the member list serve and the member password protected website. In March 2009, WAME released an updated policy statement, ‘Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals’.[1] It details the issues WAME believes journals should address when establishing their own policies for conflict of interest. The editors of this journal thought that the issues were important enough to share with its readers. A summary of the statement is presented in Table 1 and the full statement[1] can be found on WAME's website.[12] Table 1 Summary of Key Elements for Peer-Reviewed Medical Journal's Conflict of Interest Policies

Conflict of interest in peer-reviewed medical journals: The world association of medical editors position on a challenging problem.

Conflict of interest in medical publishing exists when a participant's private interests compete with his or her responsibilities to the scientific community, readers and society. While conflict of interest is common, it reaches the level of concern when 'a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual's behavior or judgment was motivated by his or her competing interests'.[1] Having a competing interest does not, in itself, imply wrongdoing. However, it can undermine the credibility of research results and damage public trust in medical journals. In recent years, the extent of conflict of interest in medical journal articles has been increasingly recognized. Medical journals and the popular media have published numerous examples of competing interests that seemed to have biased published reports.[2–4] Organizations have expressed concern for the effects of conflicts of interest on research,[5] publication[1,6,7] teaching[8] and continuing medical and nursing education.[9] The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) is one of the institutions engaged in this discussion. WAME was established in 1995[10,11] to facilitate worldwide cooperation and communication among editors of peer-reviewed journals, improve editorial standards and promote professionalism in medical editing.[12] Membership in WAME is open to all editors of peer-reviewed biomedical journals worldwide; small journals in resource-poor countries are well represented. As of December 2009, WAME had 1595 individual members representing 965 journals in 92 countries. WAME has broad participation as there are no dues and WAME activities are largely carried out through the member list serve and the member password protected website. In March 2009, WAME released an updated policy statement, ‘Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals’.[1] It details the issues WAME believes journals should address when establishing their own policies for conflict of interest. The editors of this journal thought that the issues were important enough to share with its readers. A summary of the statement is presented in Table 1 and the full statement[1] can be found on WAME's website.[12] Table 1 Summary of Key Elements for Peer-Reviewed Medical Journal's Conflict of Interest Policies