Conflict of interest policy
Authors: Keith Lindor, Jorge Rakela, John Fung
Journal: Hepatology (2007)

There has been increased recent attention directed to conflicts of interests and disclosures related to scientific publication in both the medical and lay press. The intention of our AASLD journals is that readers have full access to any potential conflicts of interest that may in theory bias results reported within the journals. Conflict of interest is almost inevitable given the many influences that individual investigators will feel from a variety of funding sources and regulatory bodies. A policy that excluded publication of any works in which a potential conflict existed would unnecessarily limit development in the field and would preclude the readers from being exposed to important new discoveries. Our intent is to provide transparency for the reader so that they can best decide for themselves whether meaningful conflict of interest exists. In cases in which there is patent conflict of interest in presentation of biased results, the editors will reserve the right to exclude such papers from being published. The Journals of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, HEPATOLOGY and Liver Transplantation, have developed a joint policy of conflict of interest and disclosures for these publications. Our policies which are comparable to those recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, required that all authors of all manuscripts report complete disclosures within the past 5 years and those that may potentially become conflicts such as employment, consultancy, honoraria, stock ownership, grants or royalties; report detailed information regarding financial and material support for the specific research and work being published including grant support and funding sources, or other contributions; report in the acknowledgment section writers, statisticians, or any others involved in data management; all authors complete and sign an authorship responsibility form; and that in industry supported studies, authors must attest that they had full access to all the data and take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data analysis. Studies analyzed by statisticians employed by the company must have independent confirmation of the validity of the results by independent statisticians. Authors submitting to the AASLD journals must provide this information. The information must appear on the title page with full disclosure of funding sources and all potential conflicts must be disclosed. The following statements occur in the Instruction to Authors: Please disclose all financial arrangements within the past two years, including consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent-licensing agreements, research support, major honoraria, etc. you have with a company whose product figures prominently in the manuscript you are submitting, sending a letter to the editor, or providing an editorial. Please provide the same information for similar relationships with a company making a competing product to that which is featured in the manuscript. If the Editor finds that such activities raise the appearance of a conflict, he may recommend disclosure in a footnote. Otherwise, the information will remain confidential. A description of any commercial affiliation or consultancy of an author that could be construed as a conflict of interest (this information will be kept confidential unless the Editor recommends disclosure in a footnote if an appearance of a conflict is perceived). An author agreement signed by every contributing author. It is assumed, however, that the corresponding author speaks for his or her coauthors and certifies that all listed authors participated meaningfully in the study and that they have seen and approved the final manuscript. List grants and other financial support. It is our intent that this policy will help clarify conflict of interest policy for these journals, which is in alignment with other major medical journals and to help ensure that the potential conflict of interest for work published in these journals is transparently accessible to the reader.