Competing financial interest
In the interests of transparency and to help readers to form their own judgments of possible bias, the Nature journals now require authors of research articles to declare any competing financial interests in relation to papers accepted for publication. A detailed explanation of why this policy has been adopted can be found at the end of the statement.
The policy applies to original research manuscripts received after 1 October 2001. For these manuscripts, we require corresponding authors, prior to final acceptance of the paper, to return a declaration of competing financial interests. We will publish a shortened version of this declaration as part of the paper, with a more detailed version, if appropriate, accompanying the paper on the Web. Authors may use the form to decline to disclose their financial interests, but we will publish the fact that they have declined to provide information.
For accepted manuscripts received before 1 October 2001, corresponding authors will be invited but not required to complete this form.
The form for these declarations will be sent to corresponding authors only as part of our acceptance procedure; it may also be seen and downloaded via this link: http://www.nature.com/ng/info/cfi/ng_cfi_form.pdf
Definition
For the purposes of this statement, competing interests are defined as those of a financial nature that, through their potential influence on behavior or content or from perception of such potential influences, could undermine the objectivity, integrity or perceived value of a publication. They may include any of the following:
Funding: Research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of the paper.
Employment: Recent (that is, while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through publication of the paper.
Personal financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies that may gain or lose financially through publication; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication.
It is difficult to specify a threshold at which a financial interest becomes significant, although we note that many US universities require faculty members to disclose interests exceeding $10,000 or 5% equity in a company (see, for example, B. Lo et al. New Engl. J. Med. 343, 1616-1620; 2000). Any such figure is necessarily arbitrary, however, so we offer as one possible practical alternative guideline: "Any undeclared competing financial interests that could embarrass you were they to become publicly known after your work was published." We do not consider diversified mutual funds or investment trusts to constitute a competing financial interest.
Application to Authors
Authors will be invited, prior to final acceptance of the paper, to disclose any competing financial interests. Alternatively, authors may declare that they have no competing financial interests. In the event of publication, these declarations will be published. Unless/until the paper is published, these declarations will be considered confidential, and will not be disclosed to referees.
Authors who do not wish to make any financial disclosure may indicate as much. This will in no way prejudice consideration of their manuscript, but in the event of publication, the fact that the authors have not made a declaration will be recorded, and will be distinguished from declarations of no competing financial interests.
The published paper will indicate the authors' response using one of the following standard wordings:
For papers with more than one author, the corresponding author (the person responsible for communication with the journal) should provide a declaration on behalf of all authors. We recognize that a comprehensive declaration could become unwieldy for papers with many authors. If the number of authors is so large that itemized disclosure is unfeasible (for example, ten or more authors from three or more different institutions), we may invite them to use the following standard wording as an alternative:
"Authors declare that their competing financial interests in this work are too numerous to itemize."
We do not require authors to state the monetary value of their financial interests.
Application to Referees
We will continue to ask referees to exclude themselves as referees in cases where there is a significant conflict of interest, financial or otherwise. However, just as financial interests need not invalidate the conclusions of a paper, nor do they automatically disqualify a referee from evaluating it. We will ask referees to inform the editors of any related interests, including financial interests as defined above, that might be perceived as relevant. Editors will consider these statements when weighing referees' recommendations.
Application to Editors
All editorial staff are required to declare to their managers any interests - financial or otherwise - that might influence, or be perceived to influence, their editorial practices. Failure to do so is a disciplinary offence. It is for the manager or the Editor of the journal to judge how an employee's conflict of interest should be avoided in any specific instance, but any significant financial interests that might repeatedly conflict with employees' obligations to our readers must be avoided altogether.
Application to Publishing Policy
The Nature journals thrive on their independence. Their strict policy is that editorial independence, decisions and content should not be compromised by commercial or financial interests, or by any specific arrangements with advertising clients or sponsors. Our policy is to disclose such arrangements where there is any risk of a perception of compromise on this issue.
Reasons for Policy
Before the adoption of the policy described above, the policy of the Nature journals was that no declarations of competing interests were required from authors, and that potential referees should disqualify themselves from refereeing if they felt they had such a conflict (Nature 385, 469; 6 February 1997). The new policy (Nature 412, 751; 23 August 2001) is not based on any assumption that commercial interests of researchers are likely to lead to a lack of research integrity. Rather, it is based on a recognition of potential problems. There are three principal reasons for adopting the policy.
First, there is suggestive evidence in the literature that publication practices in biomedical research have been influenced by the commercial interests of authors. Several related discussions that contain the relevant references can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1 November 2000 (for example, A.D. DeAngelis, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 284, 2237-2238; 2000; see also Nature Neuroscience 3, 299; 2000). This evidence is consistent with the truism that although, in principle, science may be objective and its findings independent of other interests, scientists can be imperfect and subjective. There are circumstances where selection of evidence, interpretation of results or emphasis of presentation might be inadvertently or even deliberately biased by a researcher's other interests.
Second, there is a more general concern among researchers and others about the possible undermining of the integrity of scientific research by increasing commercial links and consequent influences. We believe that the best way to maintain readers' trust in the integrity of the research we publish is through a policy of transparency. If financial interests are disclosed, readers will be able to make an informed judgment about their significance or lack of significance. We believe this will be to the benefit of readers and authors alike.
Third, many institutions have introduced policies on competing interests that require authors to include descriptions of financial and other interests in publications. We are happy to support them.
We do not expect to police this policy ourselves: we believe that primary responsibility for ensuring that researchers' conduct is appropriate lies with their employers, rather than with journal editors. However, where we believe trust has been significantly compromised by an author's actions, we will seek to redress the matter by an appropriate combination of sanctions and communications to readers and employers.
We welcome comments and suggestions about this policy, which should be sent to nature@nature.com, marked "Competing interests policy".
Philip Campbell PhD
Authors declare competing financial interests: see Web version for details.
Authors declare they have no competing financial interests.
Authors decline to provide information about competing financial interests.
Editor, Nature
Editor-in-Chief, Nature publications
