Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27030966›Full record

ArticlePloS one2016

Requirements of Clinical Journals for Authors' Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Conflicts of Interest: A Cross Sectional Study.

Khaled Shawwa, Romy Kallas, Serge Koujanian, Arnav Agarwal, Ignacio Neumann, Paul Alexander, Kari A O Tikkinen, Gordon Guyatt, Elie A Akl

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
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  15. How Single Institutional Review Boards Manage Their Own Conflicts of Interest: Findings From a National Interview Study.Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges · 2019
    Article
  16. Observational
  17. Article
  18. Responsible Attention to Conflicts of Interest Enhances the Credibility of Published Scholarship.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2019
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Khaled ShawwaClinical Research Institute, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Romy KallasDepartment of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Serge KoujanianFaculty of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
Arnav AgarwalDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Ignacio NeumannDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Paul AlexanderDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Kari A O TikkinenDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Gordon GuyattDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Elie A AklDepartment of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

importanceIt is unclear how medical journals address authors' financial and non-financial conflict of interest (COI).

objectiveTo assess the policies of clinical journals for disclosure of financial and non-financial COI.

methodsCross sectional study that included both review of public documents as well as a simulation of a manuscript submission for the National Library of Medicine's "core clinical journals". The study did not involve human subjects. Investigators who abstracted the data, reviewed "instructions for authors" on the journal website and, in order to reflect the actual implementation of the COI disclosure policy, simulated the submission of a manuscript. Two individuals working in duplicate and independently to abstract information using a standardized data abstraction form, resolved disagreements by discussion or with the help of a third person.

resultsAll but one of 117 core clinical journals had a COI policy. All journals required disclosure of financial COI pertaining to the authors and a minority (35%) asked for financial COI disclosure pertaining to the family members or authors' institution (29%). Over half required the disclosure of at least one form of non-financial COI (57%), out of which only two (3%) specifically referred to intellectual COI. Small minorities of journals (17% and 24% respectively) described a potential impact of disclosed COI and of non-disclosure of COI on the editorial process.

conclusionWhile financial COI disclosure was well defined by the majority of the journals, many did not have clear policies on disclosure of non-financial COI, disclosure of financial COI of family members and institutions of the authors, and effect of disclosed COI or non-disclosure of COI on editorial policies.

Indexed as

Conflict of InterestEditorial PoliciesCross-Sectional StudiesHumansPeriodicals as TopicTruth Disclosure

Identifiers

PMID27030966
PMCPMC4816392

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.