This study examines the extent to which scientific and biomedical journals have adopted conflict of interest (COI) policies for authors, and whether the adoption and content of such policies leads to the publishing of authors’ financial interest disclosure statements by such journals. In particular, it reports the results of a survey of journal editors about their practices regarding COI disclosures. About 16 percent of 1396 highly ranked scientific and biomedical journals had COI policies in effect during 1997. Less than 1 (...) percent of the articles published during that year in the journals with COI policies contained any disclosures of author personal financial interests while nearly 66 percent of the journals had zero disclosures of author personal financial interests. Nearly three fourths of journal editors surveyed usually publish author disclosure statements suggesting that low rates of personal financial disclosures are either a result of low rates of author financial interest in the subject matter of their publications or poor compliance by authors to the journals’ COI policies. (shrink)

While public administration research is thriving because of increased attention to social scientific rigor, lingering problems of methods and ethics remain. This article investigates the reporting of ethics approval within public administration publications. Beginning with an overview of ethics requirements regarding research with human participants, I turn to an examination of human participants protections for public administration research. Next, I present the findings of my analysis of articles published in the top five public administration journals over the period from 2000 (...) to 2012, noting the incidences of ethics approval reporting as well as funding reporting. In explicating the importance of ethics reporting for public administration research, as it relates to replication, reputation, and vulnerable populations, I conclude with recommendations for increasing ethics approval reporting in public administration research. (shrink)

The study of low penetrance gene variants in a complex genetic disorder such as stroke does not pose the same risks and benefits as a study of highly penetrant mutations.1 Because of the nature of their disease, however, stroke patients may not understand the information given when they are asked for consent to participate in research and are potentially vulnerable subjects. In a systematic review of publications on ischaemic stroke genetics, we assessed the way in which informed consent and ethics (...) committee approval are reported.MethodsWe searched the MEDLINE database for stroke genetics studies published in English between January 2000 and January 2002, using the medical subject heading term “cerebrovascular disorders, genetics of” plus the text words “ischaemic” and “stroke.”2 We included only original clinical trials and observational studies of human genetic risk factors for ischaemic stroke.Both authors independently reviewed every article. We used standardised forms to record whether an explicit statement described informed consent and institutional review board procedures. We also recorded whether …. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to examine how ethical approval and competing interests are addressed by medical journals in Iran. In a cross-sectional study, 151 journals accredited by the Publications Commission of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education were reviewed. Data collection was carried out by assessing journal guidelines and conducting structured phone interviews with journal managers, focusing on how ethical considerations and conflicts of interest (COI) are addressed. Overall, 135 of the 151 journals (89.4 percent) examined some (...) aspect of ethical considerations of submitted articles. Authors were required to disclose their financial sponsors by 98 journals (64.9 percent), while COI disclosure was required by 67 journals (44.4 percent). We conclude that the rate of addressing ethical considerations is not far from ideal, but the requirement for COI disclosure needs more attention. (shrink)

Background: Authors are required to describe in their manuscripts ethical approval from an appropriate committee and how consent was obtained from participants when research involves human participants.Objective: To assess the reporting of these protections for several study designs in general medical journals.Design: A consecutive series of research papers published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine between February and May 2003 were reviewed for the reporting of ethical approval and patient consent. (...) Ethical approval, name of approving committee, type of consent, data source and whether the study used data collected as part of a study reported elsewhere were recorded. Differences in failure to report approval and consent by study design, journal and vulnerable study population were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.Results: Ethical approval and consent were not mentioned in 31% and 47% of manuscripts, respectively. 88 papers failed to report both approval and consent. Failure to mention ethical approval or consent was significantly more likely in all study designs than in randomised controlled trials . Failure to mention approval was most common in the BMJ and was significantly more likely than in The New England Journal of Medicine. Failure to mention consent was most common in the BMJ and was significantly more likely than in all other journals. No significant differences in approval or consent were found when comparing studies of vulnerable and non-vulnerable participants.Conclusion: The reporting of ethical approval and consent in RCTs has improved, but journals are less good at reporting this information for other study designs. Journals should publish this information for all research on human participants. (shrink)