The financial aspects of biomedical research currently are under intense
examination. Increasing attention and concern have been directed toward the
financial ties of individual investigators as well as the complex relationships
among researchers, academic medical centers, commercial clinical research
entities, and industry.1-8
Medical journal editors are responsible for evaluating the scientific validity
and credibility of research submitted for possible publication. Editors also
have an obligation to present pertinent information related to the financial
aspects of the articles they publish so readers can interpret the findings
in light of this information. THE JOURNAL has policies governing financial
aspects of manuscripts submitted, reviewed, edited, and published.9 Herein, we describe a more specific policy for reporting
authors' financial conflicts of interest and a new policy for reporting relationships
between investigators and research sponsors.