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Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has reportedly increased pressure on scientists to fully disclose commercial ties to drug companies. In line with this, JAMA has urged the employers (deans of the authors' academic or medical institutions) of those who do not comply to probe them for possible conflicts of interest.
However, in a recent editorial, the journal has also said that it will not ban authors who fail to disclose financial ties to drug companies, as such an action might give rise to antitrust lawsuits. Also, banning such authors may induce them to get their papers published via another journal, which would still harm the reading public, JAMA representatives have remarked.
JAMA had earlier announced that it will tighten its conflict-of-interest policy. In the recent past, it corrected two previously published studies to include information on the researchers' or authors' formerly undisclosed financial ties. In a study linking migraines with heart disease, the journal issued a correction stating that all of the study's six authors had ties to drug companies that made migraine or heart disease drugs. In a correction of a February study on depression, JAMA informed readers that most of the study's authors were paid speakers or consultants for makers of antidepressants.