Implementation of the ICMJE Form for Reporting Potential Conflicts of Interest
Authors: Phil B. Fontanarosa, Annette Flanagin, Catherine D. DeAngelis
Journal: JAMA (2010)

WITH THE GOALS OF STANDARDIZING THE REporting of potential conflicts of interest, reducing the variability of reporting processes and formats among multiple journals, and simplifying reporting of competing interests for authors, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) developed a uniform electronic disclosure form. This document, the “ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest,” has been placed in the public domain, pilot tested, and modified and has been implemented by some journals. Beginning November 1, 2010, JAMA will request all authors who submit manuscripts (eg, original research, reviews, case-based articles, commentaries, editorials, letters to the editor, and book reviews) to complete and submit the ICMJE disclosure form (available at http://pubs .ama-assn.org/misc/icmje_author_form.pdf). All coauthors also should provide a copy of the completed form to the corresponding author of the submitted manuscript. Each author also will continue to be required to complete the JAMA authorship form, which includes author contributions, confirmation of reporting disclosures and funding, and copyright transfer (available at http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc /auinst_crit.pdf). In all articles published in JAMA after January 1, 2011, JAMA will include a statement indicating that all authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE disclosure form. JAMA will continue to require that all authors’ potential conflicts of interest, including relevant financial interests and relationships and affiliations (other than those affiliations listed in the title page of the manuscript), are reported in the “Acknowledgment” section at the end of the manuscript for consideration. All authors’ potential conflicts of interest should be reported in the manuscript in a manner consistent with that reported in their completed ICMJE disclosure form and should include the following: •Any potential conflicts of interest “involving the work under consideration for publication” (during the time involving the work, from initial conception and planning to the present); •Any “relevant financial activities outside the submitted work” (during the 36 months prior to submission); and •Any “other relationships or activities that readers could perceive to have influenced, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what you wrote in the submitted work” (based on all relationships that were present during the 36 months prior to submission). The corresponding author will be responsible for ensuring that the disclosure information reported in the manuscript is consistent with the information reported by each author on the ICMJE disclosure forms. Authors who have no potential conflicts of interest should indicate such in the ICMJE disclosure form and include a statement of no such interests in the “Acknowledgment” section of the manuscript. Failure to include the information about potential conflicts of interest in the manuscript may delay evaluation and review of the manuscript. At the time of manuscript acceptance, JAMA will request that authors confirm the accuracy of the disclosure information reported in the manuscript and update their reported conflicts of interest as necessary. JAMA will continue to publish authors’ disclosures so that readers can review such disclosures as part of the articles. We will continue to evaluate this approach as we gain experience with implementation of the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and along with other ICMJE journals, will reassess the effectiveness of this approach in the coming months.