To our readers,
With increased regulatory and media attention on the role of financial disclosure in the formal medical literature, it is critical that medical journals ensure that their publishing processes are fully transparent and ethical. And aside from those external pressures, it's just simply the right thing to do.
Current Medical Research and Opinion (CMRO) has long published trusted, peer-reviewed clinical evidence that has helped translate medical advances into improved patient care. In following good publishing practices endorsed by the ICMJE, COPE, WAME and ISMPP, CMRO has always remained at the forefront of unbiased publication practices. But as regulatory pressures increase, so does the complexity of influence. While we do not believe that financial relationships are inherently problematic or result in bias or ill-intent, we do believe that it is critical that those who create and evaluate our content be open about their interactions with potential conflicts of influence.
Starting with this issue and all issues going forward, I am proud to announce that CMRO is going above and beyond the normal medical publishing standards by implementing a new, formal Transparency Policy. This policy will ensure openness by providing you with any relevant financial relationships (in any amount) of the journal's staff, editors, editorial board, international advisory board, reviewers and authors to the content contained within each journal issue. You can then consider this information when reading our content.
As part of this new policy, all contributors, peer reviewers, Editorial Board members, International Advisory Board members and staff of CMRO will disclose:
Sources of support in the form of sponsorship, grant/research funding, consultant/advisor status, speakers’ bureau membership, stock shareholder status and any other relationship with any commercial entities relevant to the journal's content.
Relevant interest, including grants, fellowships or commercial/in-kind assistance or financial sponsorship received, or of any affiliation, organization or entity.
Financial disclosure statements for each author and the peer reviewers of each article appearing in CMRO will be made clearly available to you in the Transparency section that appears at the end of each paper – both in print and online versions. Published peer reviewer disclosure statements will not contain any language that would reveal the identity of the individual peer reviewer, which is in line with our peer-review policy.
The full transparency policy along with the disclosures of our Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, International Advisory Board and all CMRO editorial staff will be available on our website, www.cmrojournal.com.
I hope you believe that CMRO has taken the right step forward in ensuring the transparency of our publishing process, and I am interested in hearing your opinion. So please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or comments you may have regarding our new transparency policy.
Best wishes,
Jay Magrann
Publisher, CMRO
Notes
*ICMJE: www.icmje.org; COPE: www.publicationethics.org; WAME: www.wame.org; ISMPP: http://www.ismpp.org