Disclosure at the Medical Journals

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thought you'd find this interesting -- Dedy

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Disclosure at the Medical Journals

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company -- September 30, 2003

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/30/opinion/30TUE3.html?th= & pagewanted=print & posit\

ion=

A troubling case of hidden financial conflicts has forced the publisher of some

of the world's most influential scientific journals to expand its editorial

disclosure policies. Last week the Nature Publishing Group, part of Macmillan

Publishers, announced that it would henceforth require the authors of review

articles to disclose any financial ties to the products they evaluate. It was a

welcome if belated step to close a loophole in the journals' previous disclosure

policies, which covered only research reports and not the review articles that

evaluate progress in a particular field.

The new policy stems from a conflict of interest case last year involving a

review article in Nature Neuroscience that evaluated experimental treatments for

depression. As reported by Melody sen in The Times last month, the lead

author of that article had significant financial stakes in three of the

therapies he mentioned favorably. He held the patent on a lithium patch that he

described as promising, owned 60,000 shares of stock in a small company whose

drug he described as effective, and was a board member and recipient of stock

options and consulting fees from another small company whose product he cited.

Yet the journal had not asked him to disclose any conflicts of interest, and the

scientist had not volunteered the information.

Requiring the authors of original research articles to disclose their financial

conflicts has always made sense because industry financing is often associated

with pro-industry findings. The case may be even stronger for requiring

disclosure from the authors of review articles, which purport to weigh the value

of one therapy against another and are, by their very nature, opinionated.

Having come so far, the Nature journals may now want to extend their disclosure

policy to cover letters as well, given their combative nature and potential

influence.

Medical journals have made substantial efforts in recent years to reduce the

potential for commercial bias. Full disclosure of financial ties is a powerful

disinfectant, but when the conflicts loom too large, the journals should simply

shop around for a less conflicted author.

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