Published 12 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1934
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1934

Letters

Sharing medical research data

Financial conflicts should be included in online abstracts

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

There should be not only data transparency but also financial transparency.1 Most major medical journals have made financial disclosure mandatory. Yet, now that the internet allows free access to any biomedical abstract, readers of abstracts may be blinded to papers’ relevant financial disclosure unless they have a paid subscription to the journal.

I reviewed the ICMJE uniform requirements, the author instructions for 20 journals, including the BMJ, JAMA, the nine current Archives journals, New England Journal of Medicine, and the Lancet journals. None of them required, recommended, or even mentioned financial disclosure for structured or unstructured abstracts. Thus, readers might think that there was no potential financial conflict of interest when one exists. This is particularly important when the reader is a layperson attempting self education on the internet.

Of course, a reader could access a paper by paying a fee. One time access to the New . . . [Full text of this article]

M Felix Freshwater, voluntary professor of surgery1

1 University of Miami, 9100 S Dadeland Boulevard, Miami, FL 33156-7815, USA

mfelix.freshwater@gmail.com


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Media need financial ties made clear
Rosemary A Stanton
bmj.com, 13 May 2009 [Full text]
feedback, Feedback, FEEDBACK
M Felix Freshwater
bmj.com, 15 May 2009 [Full text]
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