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 hosted a symposium at the AAMC's headquarters on February 12, 2019 with leaders from across the biomedical research community to discuss how to harmonize requirements for authors’ disclosures of their financial interests and relationships.

Attendees participated in facilitated table discussions, outlining the actions needed to harmonize the submission of financial interest disclosures by authors to journals and the need to build greater transparency around journal disclosure requirements. The symposium concluded with attendees reflecting on the discussions that took place throughout the day, and it was widely agreed that specific issues would benefit from the development of recommendations to help guide disclosure policies and processes. The symposium summary (below) provides a high-level synopsis of the key themes discussed and the next steps to continue to engage the research community. One outcome was the establishment of three connected working groups (Working Group on Relevancy, Working Group on Uniform Disclosure Criteria, Working Group on Implementation and Principles of Accountability), tasked with developing recommendations and principles on the standardization of financial interest disclosures from individual authors to journals and the steps to implement those recommendations.

The final recommendations from the three working groups will be posted here in early spring. If you would like to stay informed about this initiative and read the final recommendations, please check back here (www.aamc.org/disclosure). You may also email dgrayer@aamc.org if you would like to be contacted with updates. For resources on AAMC’s Conflict of Interest and Transparency efforts, click here. 

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)