Cochrane has released its revised Conflict of Interest policy for Cochrane Library Content. The policy was created with the support of a project board made up of key stakeholders and conflict of interest experts from within and outside Cochrane, following a rigorous policy revision process that began in May 2018. It represents an important step in promoting the integrity of Cochrane Library content.
Some key features of the revised and strengthened policy are: authors without conflicts of interest must make up at least two-thirds of the author team; last as well as first authors must be entirely free of conflicts of interest; authors of clinical studies that are funded by industry and are relevant to the topic of a review may not be the first or last author of a Cochrane Review; and non-financial interests must be closely considered and declared by all Cochrane authors, but will not prevent people from creating Cochrane Library content.
The revised policy is expected to come into effect in July 2020. All Cochrane Review titles registered after policy implementation will be required to follow the revised policy, and the same is true for updates that begin after implementation.
Cochrane is working closely with its technology teams to ensure that editorial systems are optimised to support implementation and uptake of the revised policy. Monthly updates on this progress and the implementation date will be provided on the Conflict of Interest policy page. Before the policy comes into effect, there will be opportunities for Cochrane Review Group (CRG) editorial team members, authors and other Cochrane members to learn about the policy and how it may affect their Cochrane activities. In addition, a Conflict of Interest Policy Implementation Team is in place to support policy implementation.
A new conflict of interest policy page has been set up at conflictofinterest.cochrane.org to provide access to the both the revised (2020) and old (2014) policies.
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