Harmonizing Financial Disclosures in Biomedical Journals

The Association of American Medical Colleges, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Council of Medical Specialty Societies, JAMA, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center hosted a symposium at the AAMC's headquarters on February 12, 2019 with leaders from across the biomedical research community to discuss harmonizing requirements for authors’ disclosures of their financial interests and relationships in journals.

Attendees outlined the actions needed to harmonize disclosures and how to build greater transparency and consistency around journal disclosure requirements. The symposium summary provides a high-level synopsis of the key themes discussed and the next steps proposed. The primary outcome was the establishment of three connected working groups (Relevancy, Uniform Disclosure Criteria, and Implementation and Principles of Accountability), tasked with developing principles and recommendations for implementation.

The host organizations are pleased to invite stakeholders to review the report, Harmonization of Financial Disclosure in Biomedical Journals: A Shared Responsibility . To provide feedback and stay informed about next steps for implementation, please use the Call for Comment below. For questions, contact Daria Grayer (dgrayer@aamc.org).  
 

Recommendations Report

• Harmonization of Financial Disclosure in Biomedical Journals: A Shared Responsibility
• Call for Comment
   

Symposium Materials

• Symposium agenda
• Symposium summary
   

Additional Resources

• A Disclosure Form for Work Submitted to Medical Journals,  A Proposal From the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors – Comments due April 30, 2020  (JAMA, January 2020); Proposed Revised ICMJE Disclosure Form – Submit comments here.
• ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education – Draft for Comment - Comments due February 21, 2020. 

• Scientists Who Discredited Meat Guidelines Didn't Report Past Food Industry Ties (NY Times, 2019)

• The Integrity of our Research Depends on the Full Disclosure of Industry Relationships, Opinion by Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, AAMC President and CEO (AAMC News, 2018)

• Conflicts of Interests, Authors, and Journals - New Challenges for a Persistent Problem (JAMA, 2018); related: Conflict of Interest and Medical Journals (JAMA, 2017)

• Harmonizing Reporting on Potential Conflicts of Interest: A Common Disclosure Process for Health Care and Life Sciences, (Institute of Medicine Discussion Paper, 2012) and concurrent JAMA Viewpoint Toward a Harmonized and Centralized Conflict of Interest Disclosure, Progress From an IOM Initiative (2012)

• Conflict of Interest in Medical Research Education, and Practice (Institute of Medicine Report, 2009)

• AAMC Conflict of Interest and Transparency Initiatives
   

For questions regarding this initiative, please contact:

• Heather Pierce, Senior Director for Science Policy and Regulatory Counsel (hpierce@aamc.org)
• Daria Grayer, Senior Lead Specialist for Science Policy and Regulations (dgrayer@aamc.org)