Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2470

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Drazen JM, Curfman GD.
Financial associations of authors.
N Engl J Med 2002 Jun 13; 346:(24):1901-2
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/346/24/1901

Abstract:

The Journal reiterates principles underlying its policies on financial associations and introduces a revision. The Journal discloses sponsorship of studies and reports all financial relationships of authors, pertinent to the article. For review articles and editorials, which do not present new data, currently the Journal expects that authors will not have any financial interest in a company that makes a product discussed in the article. The ability to provide comprehensive, up-to-date information has been constrained by this policy. Therefore the policy statement is revised to ‘will not have any significant financial interest’. This acknowledges that not all financial associations are the same. The definition of ‘significant’ accords with that of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) setting an upper limit (the de minimis level, currently $10,000) on the annual sum that a person may receive, and also considers any stock, stock options or patent positions. Such authors, through their institutions, must not have major research support or funding from relevant companies. In the end Journal editors are responsible for weighing available facts and for making decisions to prevent financial interests from infringing on editorial content while acknowledging that some level of interaction between academia and industry may facilitate the dissemination of scientific knowledge and its application.

Keywords:
*editorial United States