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US peer reviewers received over $1bn in industry payments over three years

BMJ 2024; 387 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q2260 (Published 15 October 2024) Cite this as: BMJ 2024;387:q2260
  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. New York

Nearly half of US physician peer reviewers for four major international journals received industry payments totalling more than $1bn (£765m; €917m) over three years, a study has found.

Most of the money went to the reviewers’ institutions, says the report in JAMA.1

Publicly available information about peer reviewer conflicts of interest is rare even though many have industry ties, say the researchers.

“Peer reviewers act as critical arbiters of the validity and relevance of peer reviewed studies. Therefore, understanding the potential intellectual and financial relations that may affect their decision making is key to understanding how these influences affect peer reviewed literature,” corresponding author Christopher Wallis of the University of Toronto told MedPage Today.2

The study authors say that peer review has been “traditionally opaque.” Conflicts of interest among journal editors and authors have …

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