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Wiersma M, Kerridge IH, Lipworth W. Perspectives on non-financial conflicts of interest in health-related journals: A scoping review. Account Res 2024:1-37. [PMID: 38602335 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2024.2337046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
The objective of this scoping review was to systematically review the literature on how non-financial conflicts of interest (nfCOI) are defined and evaluated, and the strategies suggested for their management in health-related and biomedical journals. PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for peer reviewed studies published in English between 1970 and December 2023 that addressed at least one of the following: the definition, evaluation, or management of non-financial conflicts of interest. From 658 studies, 190 studies were included in the review. nfCOI were discussed most commonly in empirical (22%; 42/190), theoretical (15%; 29/190) and "other" studies (18%; 34/190) - including commentary, perspective, and opinion articles. nfCOI were addressed frequently in the research domain (36%; 68/190), publication domain (29%; 55/190) and clinical practice domain (17%; 32/190). Attitudes toward nfCOI and their management were divided into two distinct groups. The first larger group claimed that nfCOI were problematic and required some form of management, whereas the second group argued that nfCOI were not problematic, and therefore, did not require management. Despite ongoing debates about the nature, definition, and management of nfCOI, many articles included in this review agreed that serious consideration needs to be given to the prevalence, impact and optimal mitigation of non-financial COI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Wiersma
- Sydney Health Ethics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ian H Kerridge
- Haematology Department, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Australia
| | - Wendy Lipworth
- Philosophy Department, Ethics and Agency Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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Hosseini M, Gordijn B. A review of the literature on ethical issues related to scientific authorship. Account Res 2020; 27:284-324. [PMID: 32243214 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2020.1750957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The article at hand presents the results of a literature review on the ethical issues related to scientific authorship. These issues are understood as questions and/or concerns about obligations, values or virtues in relation to reporting, authorship and publication of research results. For this purpose, the Web of Science core collection was searched for English resources published between 1945 and 2018, and a total of 324 items were analyzed. Based on the review of the documents, ten ethical themes have been identified, some of which entail several ethical issues. Ranked on the basis of their frequency of occurrence these themes are: 1) attribution, 2) violations of the norms of authorship, 3) bias, 4) responsibility and accountability, 5) authorship order, 6) citations and referencing, 7) definition of authorship, 8) publication strategy, 9) originality, and 10) sanctions. In mapping these themes, the current article explores major ethical issue and provides a critical discussion about the application of codes of conduct, various understandings of culture, and contributing factors to unethical behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Hosseini
- Institute of Ethics, School of Theology, Philosophy and Music, Dublin City University , Dublin, Ireland
| | - Bert Gordijn
- Institute of Ethics, School of Theology, Philosophy and Music, Dublin City University , Dublin, Ireland
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Mackey TK, Shah N, Miyachi K, Short J, Clauson K. A Framework Proposal for Blockchain-Based Scientific Publishing Using Shared Governance. FRONTIERS IN BLOCKCHAIN 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fbloc.2019.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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Reasons for article retraction in anesthesiology: a comprehensive analysis. Can J Anaesth 2019; 67:57-63. [DOI: 10.1007/s12630-019-01508-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Revised: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
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Teixeira da Silva JA, Dobránszki J, Bhar RH, Mehlman CT. Editors Should Declare Conflicts of Interest. JOURNAL OF BIOETHICAL INQUIRY 2019; 16:279-298. [PMID: 31016681 PMCID: PMC6598958 DOI: 10.1007/s11673-019-09908-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2018] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Editors have increasing pressure as scholarly publishing tries to shore up trust and reassure academics and the public that traditional peer review is robust, fail-safe, and corrective. Hidden conflicts of interest (COIs) may skew the fairness of the publishing process because they could allow the status of personal or professional relationships to positively influence the outcome of peer review or reduce the processing period of this process. Not all authors have such privileged relationships. In academic journals, editors usually have very specialized skills and are selected as agents of trust, entrusted with the responsibility of serving as quality control gate-keepers during peer review. In many cases, editors form extensive networks, either with other professionals, industry, academic bodies, journals, or publishers. Such networks and relationships may influence their decisions or even their subjectivity towards a set of submitting authors, paper, or institute, ultimately influencing the peer review process. These positions and relationships are not simply aspects of a curriculum, they are potential COIs. Thus, on the editorial board of all academic journals, editors should carry a COI statement that reflects their past history, as well as actual relationships and positions that they have, as these may influence their editorial functions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Judit Dobránszki
- Research Institute of Nyíregyháza, IAREF, University of Debrecen, P.O. Box 12, Nyíregyháza, H-4400, Hungary.
| | - Radha Holla Bhar
- Alliance Against Conflict of Interest, BP 33, Pitampura, Delhi, 110 034, India.
| | - Charles T Mehlman
- Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
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Martínez C, Fu M, Galán I, Pérez-Rios M, Martínez-Sánchez JM, López MJ, Sureda X, Montes A, Fernández E. Conflicts of interest in research on electronic cigarettes. Tob Induc Dis 2018; 16:28. [PMID: 31516428 PMCID: PMC6659563 DOI: 10.18332/tid/90668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Revised: 04/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The tobacco control community has raised some concerns about whether studies on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) published in scientific journals hide conflicts of interest (COI) and whether such reports are biased. This study assessed potential COI in the e-cigarette scientific literature. METHODS Cross-sectional study was conducted on e-cigarette publications indexed in PubMed up to August 2014. We extracted information about the authors (affiliations, location, etc.), publication characteristics (type, topic, subject, etc.), results and conclusions, presence of a COI statement, and funding by and/or financial ties to pharmaceutical, tobacco, and/or e-cigarette companies. An algorithm to determine the COI disclosure status was created based on the information in the publication. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to identify associations with COI disclosure, controlling for several independent variables. RESULTS Of the 404 publications included in the analysis, 37.1% (n=150) had no COI disclosure statement, 38.6% declared no COI, 13.4% declared potential COI with pharmaceutical companies, 3.0% with tobacco companies, and 10.6% with e-cigarette companies. The conclusions in publications with COI, which were mainly tied to pharmaceutical companies, were more likely to be favourable to e-cigarette use (PR=2.23; 95% CI: 1.43-3.46). Publications that supported the use of e-cigarettes for both harm reduction (PR=1.81; 95%CI: 1.14-2.89) and smoking cessation (PR=2.02; 95% CI: 1.26-3.23) were more likely to have conclusions that were favourable to e-cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS One-third of the publications reporting studies on e-cigarettes did not have a COI disclosure statement, and this proportion was even higher in news articles, editorials and other types of publications. Papers with conclusions that were favourable to e-cigarette use were more likely to have COI. Journal editors and reviewers should consider evaluating publications, including funding sources, to determine whether the results and conclusions may be biased.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Martínez
- Tobacco Control Unit, Cancer Control and Prevention Programme, Institut Català d'Oncologia-ICO, Barcelona, Spain.,Cancer Control and Prevention Group, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Public Health, Mental Health and Perinatal Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marcela Fu
- Tobacco Control Unit, Cancer Control and Prevention Programme, Institut Català d'Oncologia-ICO, Barcelona, Spain.,Cancer Control and Prevention Group, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Iñaki Galán
- National Centre for Epidemiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid/IdiPAZ, Madrid, Spain
| | - Mónica Pérez-Rios
- Epidemiology Unit, Galician Directorate for Public Health, Galician Health Authority, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.,Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.,Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology & Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jose M Martínez-Sánchez
- Group of Evaluation of Health Determinants and Health Policies, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Maria J López
- Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology & Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.,Evaluation and Intervention Methods Service, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Sant Pau Institute of Biomedical Research (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Xisca Sureda
- Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Agustín Montes
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.,Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology & Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Esteve Fernández
- Tobacco Control Unit, Cancer Control and Prevention Programme, Institut Català d'Oncologia-ICO, Barcelona, Spain.,Cancer Control and Prevention Group, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Buljan I, Barać L, Marušić A. How researchers perceive research misconduct in biomedicine and how they would prevent it: A qualitative study in a small scientific community. Account Res 2018; 25:220-238. [DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2018.1463162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Buljan
- Department of Research in Biomedicine in Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia
| | - Lana Barać
- Department of Research in Biomedicine in Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia
- Research Office, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia
| | - Ana Marušić
- Department of Research in Biomedicine in Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia
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I publish in I edit?--Do editorial board members of urologic journals preferentially publish their own scientific work? PLoS One 2013; 8:e83709. [PMID: 24386258 PMCID: PMC3873965 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2013] [Accepted: 11/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Scientists who are members of an editorial board have been accused of preferentially publishing their scientific work in the journal where they serve as editor. Reputation and academic standing do depend on an uninterrupted flow of published scientific work and the question does arise as to whether publication mainly occurs in the self-edited journal. This investigation was designed to determine whether editorial board members of five urological journals were more likely to publish their research reports in their own rather than in other journals. A retrospective analysis was conducted for all original reports published from 2001-2010 by 65 editorial board members nominated to the boards of five impact leading urologic journals in 2006. Publications before editorial board membership, 2001-2005, and publications within the period of time as an editorial board member, 2006-2010, were identified. The impact factors of the journals were also recorded over the time period 2001-2010 to see whether a change in impact factor correlated with publication locality. In the five journals as a whole, scientific work was not preferentially published in the journal in which the scientists served as editor. However, significant heterogeneity among the journals was evident. One journal showed a significant increase in the amount of published papers in the 'own' journal after assumption of editorship, three journals showed no change and one journal showed a highly significant decrease in publishing in the 'own' journal after assumption of editorship.
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Gasparyan AY, Ayvazyan L, Akazhanov NA, Kitas GD. Conflicts of interest in biomedical publications: considerations for authors, peer reviewers, and editors. Croat Med J 2013; 54:600-8. [PMID: 24382859 PMCID: PMC3893982 DOI: 10.3325/cmj.2013.54.600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
This article overviews evidence on common instances of conflict of interest (COI) in research publications from general and specialized fields of biomedicine. Financial COIs are viewed as the most powerful source of bias, which may even distort citation outcomes of sponsored publications. The urge to boost journal citation indicators by stakeholders of science communication is viewed as a new secondary interest, which may compromize the interaction between authors, peer reviewers and editors. Comprehensive policies on disclosure of financial and non-financial COIs in scholarly journals are presented as proxies of their indexing in evidence-based databases, and examples of successful medical journals are discussed in detail. Reports on clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and clinical practice guidelines may be unduly influenced by author-pharmaceutical industry relations, but these publications do not always contain explicit disclosures to allow the readers to judge the reliability of the published conclusions and practice-changing recommendations. The article emphasizes the importance of adhering to the guidance on COI from learned associations such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). It also considers joint efforts of authors, peer reviewers and editors as a foundation for appropriately defining and disclosing potential COIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Armen Yuri Gasparyan
- Departments of Rheumatology and Research and Development, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (A Teaching Trust of The University of Birmingham), Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, United Kingdom
| | - Lilit Ayvazyan
- Department of Medical Chemistry, Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Nurbek A. Akazhanov
- Department of Internship and Residency for General Practitioners N3, Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
| | - George D. Kitas
- Departments of Rheumatology and Research and Development, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (A Teaching Trust of The University of Birmingham), Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, United Kingdom
- Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
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Bond C. The slippery slope of errors. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE 2013; 21:137-8. [DOI: 10.1111/ijpp.12044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christine Bond
- Centre of Academic Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
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