Transparency Of Funding Research Articles

Extent, transparency and impact of industry funding for pelvic mesh research: a review of the literature

BackgroundConflicts of interest inherent in industry funding can bias medical research methods, outcomes, reporting and clinical applications. This study explored the extent of funding provided to American physician researchers studying surgical mesh used to treat uterine prolapse or stress urinary incontinence, and whether that funding was declared by researchers or influenced the ethical integrity of resulting publications in peer reviewed journals.MethodsPublications identified via a Pubmed search (2014–2021) of the terms mesh and pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence and with at least one US physician author were reviewed. Using the CMS Open Payments database industry funding received by those MDs in the year before, of and after publication was recorded, as were each study’s declarations of funding and 14 quality measures.ResultsFifty-three of the 56 studies reviewed had at least one American MD author who received industry funding in the year of, or one year before or after publication. For 47 articles this funding was not declared. Of 247 physician authors, 60% received > $100 while 13% received $100,000-$1,000,000 of which approximately 60% was undeclared. While 57% of the studies reviewed explicitly concluded that mesh was safe, only 39% of outcomes supported this. Neither the quality indicator of follow-up duration nor overall statements as to mesh safety varied with declaration status.ConclusionsJournal editors’ guidelines re declaring conflicts of interest are not being followed. Financial involvement of industry in mesh research is extensive, often undeclared, and may shape the quality of, and conclusions drawn, resulting in overstated benefit and overuse of pelvic mesh in clinical practice.

Transparency of clinical practice guideline funding: a cross-sectional analysis of the German AWMF registry

BackgroundWhile reporting of individual conflicts of interest is formalised, it is unclear to what extent the funding of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) is formally reported. The aim of this study is to explore the accuracy and comprehensiveness of reporting on funding in German CPGs.MethodsWe searched for CPGs in the registry of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany in July 2020. Information on guideline funding was categorised by two reviewers independently and discrepancies were clarified by discussion with a third reviewer. Accuracy and comprehensiveness of reporting on funding was assessed using the German Instrument for Methodological Guideline Appraisal (DELBI).ResultsWe included 507 CPGs published between 2015 and 2020 in the main analysis. 23/507 (4.5%) of the CPGs achieved the highest DELBI score by including information on funding sources, expenses and the amount of funding provided, as well as a statement on the independence of the guideline authors from the funding institution(s). CPGs with more rigorous methodological requirements (systematic review of the literature and/or structured consensus-building) received higher DELBI scores.ConclusionGerman CPGs do not communicate their funding transparently. Transparency of CPG funding could be achieved by making it mandatory to publish information for all guidelines. For that purpose, a standardised form and guidance should be developed.

Disclosure of Pharmaceutical Industry Funding of Patient Organisations in Nordic Countries: Can Industry Self-Regulation Deliver on its Transparency Promise?

Pharmaceutical companies regularly fund patient organizations. It is important for patient organizations’ credibility that there be transparency regarding this financial support. In Europe, the pharmaceutical industry promises to deliver transparency through self-regulation, as opposed to legally binding provisions, but self-regulation's effectiveness is contested. We compared the industry's transparency of funding in four Nordic countries that, given their general reputation for high transparency, offered a critical test of self-regulation's ability to deliver on its transparency promise. For 2017–2019, we compared: national rules regarding funding disclosure; disclosure practices as evidenced by the availability, accessibility, and format of company transparency reports; and disclosure data, including payment descriptions and sums. Transparency problems differed in kind and magnitude between countries. In Norway and Finland, unlike in Sweden and Denmark, data on funding were difficult to access and analyze and sometimes seemed incomplete or missing. We explain that a key factor allowing for country differences is the freedom given to a country's pharmaceutical industry trade associations to form self-regulatory rules, provided they do not fall below the weak, European-level minimum requirements. Transparency could be improved by aligning rules and practices with the FAIR data principles: that is, corporate disclosures should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

Who funded the research behind the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine?

ObjectivesThe Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, Vaxzevira or Covishield) builds on two decades of research and development (R&D) into chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx) technology at the University of Oxford. This...

Open the doors to (de-identifiable) data.

Open the doors to (de-identifiable) data.

ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF STATE FINANCING IN THE CONTEXT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF PARTNER INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS OF THE STATE AND BUSINESS

Introduction. An integral condition for the efficient functioning of the economy is the constructive financial interaction between the state and business. Such cooperation is due to the need to improve the infrastructure sectors, the efficiency of which affects not only the welfare and quality of life, but also creates the conditions for intensifying investment activities and increasing productivity in the fields of material production. However, modernization of infrastructure is not possible only at the expense of private partners, so it requires financial participation of state or local authorities. The purpose of the article is to identify the problems of public funding of public-private partnership infrastructure projects in Ukraine and to develop recommendations for their solution, taking into account the best world practices. Results. The study showed that public funding of public-private partnership projects in Ukraine is carried out through the use of direct and indirect state support. It is established that its forms are insufficiently adapted in domestic practice, as they have a restrictive nature of action, and also contain many gaps in the legislation. Conclusions. Increasing the investment attractiveness of infrastructure projects implemented on the basis of public-private partnership requires state support. At the same time, state and local authorities should adhere to the provisions: providing state support in the process of implementing strategically important PPP projects in the field of socio-economic activities by legislative regulation of the procedure for determining the level of contribution of a supported investment project; determining the type of financial participation of the state (provision of state guarantees, subsidies or budget investments) should be based on economically justified performance indicators; involvement of state representatives to assess the feasibility of choosing certain forms of state support, forecasting the possible risks to prevent budget imbalances; ensuring transparency of public funding of PPP projects, which will increase the level of confidence in the investment market.

Industry funding of patient groups: a systematic review

Abstract Background Patient groups play an important role in health care and policy. Concerns have been raised about the financial ties between the pharmaceutical industry and patient groups, because of potential threats to the groups' independence. We conducted a systematic review to synthesise studies that explored pharmaceutical or medical device industry funding of patient groups. Methods We searched Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar (from inception to January 2018). We included observational studies reporting at least one of the following outcomes: prevalence of industry funding; proportion of industry funded patient groups which disclosed information about this funding; association between industry funding and organisational positions on health and policy issues. We carried out duplicate independent data extraction and assessed study quality. Results 26 cross-sectional studies were included. Fifteen studies assessed the prevalence of industry funding, which ranged from 20% (12/61) to 83% (86/104). The proportion of patient groups which disclosed funding information on their websites was low (27% [95% CI: 24%-31%]). Few patient groups had formal policies governing corporate sponsorship (range from 2% (2/125) to 64% (175/274)). Among the few studies examining funding status versus organisational position, industry sponsored groups tend to hold positions consistent with sponsors' interests. Conclusions We found widespread indications of industry funding of patient groups. Transparency of funding is inadequate and the prevalence of policies governing corporate sponsorship is low. Research on policy impact is still limited. Considering the important role that patient groups play in health, strategies to prevent biases that may favour commercial interests above those of patients need to be implemented. Key messages Industry funding of patient groups is common in high income countries. Transparency of funding is inadequate and the prevalence of policies governing corporate sponsorship is low. Considering the important role that patient groups play in health care and policy, strategies to prevent biases that may favour commercial interests above those of patients need to be implemented.

TRANSPARENCY OF FINANCING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: INTERNATIONAL LEGAL EXPERIENCE AND PRACTICE OF UKRAINE

TRANSPARENCY OF FINANCING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: INTERNATIONAL LEGAL EXPERIENCE AND PRACTICE OF UKRAINE

Analisis Pengelolaan Dana Partai Terhadap Masa Depan Partai Politik: Sebuah Kajian Penguatan Party-ID Terhadap Partai Politik Baru 2019

This article tries to look at the opportunities that new political parties in Indonesia have to provide political education related to the issue of political finance transparency as social capital in increasing participation to electoral support in society. The Law on Public Information Openness (UU KIP) and the Law on Political Parties have obliged political parties to manage their finances with the principles of transparency and accountability, but most have not yet revealed the reporting of political party financial reports that are publicly published. Focusing on the emergence of 4 (four) new political parties that participated in the 2019 election contestation, gave rise to opportunities to be able to attract voter sympathy in order to gain electoral potential by demonstrating internal financial management, bringing transparency through clear financial reports. With a descriptive qualitative approach it was found that the relationship between the identity of political parties and the management of political party funds towards 4 (four) new political parties was still weak. This phenomenon is a result of still being "blurred" and covered by issues of transparency and accountability of funding by new political parties.

Analisis Pengelolaan Dana Partai Terhadap Masa Depan Partai Politik: Sebuah Kajian Penguatan Party-ID Terhadap Partai Politik Baru 2019

This article tries to look at the opportunities that new political parties in Indonesia have to provide political education related to the issue of political finance transparency as social capital in increasing participation to electoral support in society. The Law on Public Information Openness (UU KIP) and the Law on Political Parties have obliged political parties to manage their finances with the principles of transparency and accountability, but most have not yet revealed the reporting of political party financial reports that are publicly published. Focusing on the emergence of 4 (four) new political parties that participated in the 2019 election contestation, gave rise to opportunities to be able to attract voter sympathy in order to gain electoral potential by demonstrating internal financial management, bringing transparency through clear financial reports. With a descriptive qualitative approach it was found that the relationship between the identity of political parties and the management of political party funds towards 4 (four) new political parties was still weak. This phenomenon is a result of still being "blurred" and covered by issues of transparency and accountability of funding by new political parties.

MEDICAL RESEARCH IN KAZAKHSTAN AS PERCEIVED BY RESEARCHERS, HEALTH MANAGERS AND PRACTICING PHYSICIANS

The state of health research in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been called as drastic in a recent evaluation. Several efforts have been made to break isolation of Kazakhstan from international medical research, education and practice. We studied how researchers, health managers and practicing physicians perceive the current status of medical research in Kazakhstan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at 3 research institutes, 3 research centers and 2 clinics in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. Altogether, 207 (99 %) employees involved in research participated and were interviewed by the first author. Researchers, health managers and physicians comprised 63.8 %, 16.4 % and 19.8 % of the sample. Categorical data were analyzed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests. Results: Although 38 % of the participants had the highest research degrees, less than 1% of the sample had international publications. More than three thirds of researchers reported unsatisfactory transparency of financing research compared to health managers and physicians (P. 0.001). Considerable variability between the groups was observed in the perception of the agreement between the research conducted and health needs of the vulnerable groups (P. 0.001). Researchers were more likely to report unsatisfactory career opportunities in research than other studied groups (P. = 0.025). Conclusions: The perception of our responders of the current state of health research in Kazakhstan raise concerns about the quality of doctoral degrees without international publications, transparency of funding and agreement between the research conducted and real health needs in the country and existing conditions for disseminating and implementation of the results of health research in practice.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE FINANCING OF POLITICAL PARTIES (CASE STUDY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA)

The issue of reporting on the financial activity of political parties is crucial for any democratic society. At the same time, the presentation of financial reports by political parties is a mandatory element in ensuring greater transparency of their activity as a whole. Transparency of party financing activities is necessary to protect voters' rights to obtain the necessary information on financial support to political parties as well as the costs associated with running the electoral campaign, etc., which ensures a more trained and informed voter for the exercise of his / her rights in a democratic system. One way to increase the transparency of political parties' funding is the system of online reporting of political party incomes and expenditures. For the Republic of Moldova this is an a priori, given that our society has set its course towards European standards and values, and the political arena is characterized by the diversity of political actors segmented according to the ideals claimed in their platform and status.

MAIN PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE IMPOSED THE TRANSPARENCY OF PUBLIC FINANCING OF POLITICAL PARTIES OF UKRAINE IN 2016 - FIRST HALF OF 2019

The major issues faced by experts during the monitoring and analysis of Ukrainian political parties' public financial statements during 2016 – the first half of 2019, and which prevented the transparency of funding for a large number of parties are considered. These problems include: gaps in legislation (which allowed party members not to declare sponsorship and the operation cost of centers that were not registered as legal entities), lack of reports from the parties from the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (due to which part of the reports remained unpublished), inefficiency of the system of penalties for violation of financial reporting requirements (which can cause even more violations of requirements for financial statements in the future), ineffectiveness of the NAPC (due to which a large number of potential violations identified by experts remained unattended by the authorities), ability for parties to use public organizations to campaign and conceal contributions (since NGOs are not required to submit public reports on their activities), the use of third parties' personal data by party officials to conceal information about genuine party donors (which is not only criminally punishable, but also completely contradicts the idea of the existence of public financial reports of political parties). It is stated that the problem of the optionality of declaring sponsorship contributions has already been solved through an approved methodology for evaluating them, and the inefficiency of the NAPC can be eliminated by the recently signed President's Law. However, it will be possible to see the results of implementation of this law only after it becomes valid and monitors the activities of the renewed NAPC. It was concluded that resolving these problems requires a quality restart of the NAPC and changes to the legislation.

Legal Regulation of Political Party Financing in the Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Federation: Comparative Analysis

This article deals with the modern mechanisms of the political parties financing in Russia and Spain. Nowadays the parties may be effective if they are effective in fundraising. That’s why we may say that all and any democratic country shall create a balanced model of parties financing. Such model shall minimize the influence of private money and at the same time of public funds. For this purpose, it is necessary to take into consideration the peculiarities of the political system, order of parties funding and the practice. It is also useful to learn the experience of parties funding of foreign countries. The subject of this study is the legal regulation of sources of political parties financing if Russia and Spain. The special attention is paid to public funds and principles of legal regulation of it. Such principals are rule of law, transparency of parties funding as well as reasonableness and compliance with voters’ support. The authors analyze recent amendments of law on political parties in the field of state subsidies. A great attention is paid to private sources of parties financing. The study reveals the tendency of tightening of legal regulation of political parties funding especially concerning the amount of donations, donors and credits. The legal comparative study and analyze of financial reports helps to look at the problem of parties funding from other side.

Coca-Cola - a model of transparency in research partnerships? A network analysis of Coca-Cola's research funding (2008-2016).

To (i) evaluate the extent to which Coca-Cola's 'Transparency Lists' of 218 researchers that it funds are comprehensive; (ii) map all scientific research acknowledging funding from Coca-Cola; (iii) identify those institutions, authors and research topics funded by Coca-Cola; and (iv) use Coca-Cola's disclosure to gauge whether its funded researchers acknowledge the source of funding. Using Web of Science Core Collection database, we retrieved all studies declaring receipt of direct funding from the Coca-Cola brand, published between 2008 and 2016. Using conservative eligibility criteria, we iteratively removed studies and recreated Coca-Cola's transparency lists using our data. We used network analysis and structural topic modelling to assess the structure, organization and thematic focus of Coca-Cola's research enterprise, and string matching to evaluate the completeness of Coca-Cola's transparency lists. Three hundred and eighty-nine articles, published in 169 different journals, and authored by 907 researchers, cite funding from The Coca-Cola Company. Of these, Coca-Cola acknowledges funding forty-two authors (<5 %). We observed that the funded research focuses mostly on nutrition and emphasizes the importance of physical activity and the concept of 'energy balance'. The Coca-Cola Company appears to have failed to declare a comprehensive list of its research activities. Further, several funded authors appear to have failed to declare receipt of funding. Most of Coca-Cola's research support is directed towards physical activity and disregards the role of diet in obesity. Despite initiatives for greater transparency of research funding, the full scale of Coca-Cola's involvement is still not known.

My Vote Counts , international standards and transparency of political party funding : does the state have a duty to provide for continuous and systematic disclosure?

<i>My Vote Counts</i> , international standards and transparency of political party funding : does the state have a duty to provide for continuous and systematic disclosure?

Possible options for introducing quality aspects in Activity-Based Funding pricing

Background In 2011, all of the Australian governments committed to health care reform in which they agreed to use a nationally consistent “Activity-Based Funding” approach for public hospital services in Australia. This reform sought to increase the transparency of public hospital funding and improve the efficiency of public hospital services. As part of this reform, the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (NIHA) was created, to determine the National Efficient Price (NEP) for public hospitals services, as well as the classification, costing, and counting standards used in setting the NEP. One criticism of Activity-Based Funding is that it fosters increases in hospital activity without measuring quality, safety, or outcomes. To address this criticism, in the last two years, the IHPA has begun to develop several options for introducing quality components into the NEP. The work has been carried out in partnership with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, and is overseen by a Joint Working Party (JWP) comprised of senior clinicians from across the country. This paper gives an overview of the timeconsuming and complex, but ultimately productive, work that has been carried out to date.

International neuromodulation society critical assessment: guideline review of implantable neurostimulation devices.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is well accepted for the treatment of chronic pain since its beginning in 1967. As its use continues to enter into the chronic pain treatment algorithm earlier, conscience patient selection and durability of the therapy are clearly clinically relevant. To improve treatment efficacy, consensus statements and guidelines were developed. The purpose of this work is to review the relevant guideline statements for implantable neurostimulation therapies to treat chronic pain and to identify guideline gaps and future directions for recommendation platforms. A systematic literature search through EMBASE, Medline, Cochrane data base, as well as peer-reviewed, nonindexed journals and materials presented at national and international meetings was performed to chronologically identify consensus statements or guideline statements for use of neurostimulation therapies to treat chronic neuropathic pain limited to the English language. From 1998 to 2013, 22 guideline statements were identified. Thirteen of the 22 guidelines were society-sponsored guideline statements from ten societies. Two guideline statements were from research foundations, two were government supported, and one statement was published as a position statement. The current available guideline statements have clear deficiencies in either scope of coverage, evidence synthesis, or lack of transparency of funding. Improved evidence and best practice/guideline assessment may improve patient outcomes and accessibility to these important modalities. Further prospective comparator randomized data are required to not only provide data of clinical and cost-effectiveness in other indications but also to better describe the position of neurostimulation application within the disease management pathway. Therein cases where there appears to be sufficient evidence and consensus, every effort should be made to secure access to these effective therapies. Importantly, each guideline only has a useful clinical half-life, if not updated. This should be acknowledged by both clinicians and third-party payers. Based on these deficiencies, the International Neuromodulation Society recommended the creation of a consensus conference to examine the appropriate use of neurostimulation for pain and ischemic disease.

Increasing the financial transparency of European Commission project funding

The Financial Transparency System FTS of the European Commission contains information about grants for European Union projects starting from 2007. It allows users to get an overview on EU funding, including information on beneficiaries as well as the amount and type of expenditure and information on the responsible EU department. The original dataset is freely available on the European Commission website, where users can query the data using an HTML form and download it in CSV and most recently XML format. In this article, we describe the transformation of this data to RDF and its interlinking with other datasets. We show that this allows interesting queries over the data, which were very difficult without this conversion. The main benefit of the dataset is an increased financial transparency of EU project funding. The RDF version of the FTS dataset will become part of the EU Open Data Portal and eventually be hosted and maintained by the European Union itself.

Ten years of external quality audit in Australia: evaluating its effectiveness and success

External quality audits are now being used in universities across the world to improve quality assurance, accountability for quality education and transparency of public funding of higher education. Some countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark have had external quality audits for more than a decade but there has been limited research as to their impact. This study analyses the extent to which external audits in Australia have improved quality assurance in universities over the past 10 years. The analysis is based on discussions with 40 participants in a workshop on the effectiveness of audits and the review of 60 external quality audit reports between 2001 and December 2010. The research found that while external audits have led to an improvement in systems and processes in Australian universities, they have not necessarily improved the student experience. This lack of impact on the student experience in Australia is similar to other countries, according to the literature review. This study is timely in its analysis on the effectiveness of the current improvement-led audits, as government in Australia is in the process of renewing quality assurance arrangements of higher education institutions with a focus on standards and outcomes.