Intended for healthcare professionals

  1. About The BMJ
  2. Resources for authors
  3. Forms, policies, and ethics
  4. Competing interest policy

Competing interest policy

A competing interest — often called a conflict of interest — exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). It may arise for the authors of an article in The BMJ when they have a financial interest that may influence, probably without their knowing, their interpretation of their results or those of others.

We believe that, to make the best decision on how to deal with an article, we should know about any competing interests that authors may have, and that if we publish the article readers should know about them too. We are not aiming to eradicate such interests across all article types in the BMJ. However, certain articles (see below) fall under a stricter policy announced in 2014. This means that authors whose financial conflicts of interest are judged to be relevant by the BMJ team are not permitted to write these articles. We also ask our staff and reviewers to declare any competing interests.

Competing interests by Article Type

A declaration of interests for all authors must be received before an article can be reviewed and accepted for publication. It should take one of three forms, depending on what type of article you are submitting.

Research

From July 2010, The BMJ (along with other journals that are members of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) has asked authors of research papers to use a revised version of the ICMJE’s unified disclosure form. The unified form is intended to make life easier for authors, in that the same form can be completed for several journals. Each journal, will, however, integrate the form into its processes in different ways.

The form asks authors to disclose three types of information:

  • Associations with commercial entities that provided support for the work reported in the submitted manuscript (the timeframe for disclosure in this section of the form is the life span of the work being reported).
  • Associations with commercial entities that could be viewed as having an interest in the general area of the submitted manuscript (in the three years before submission of the manuscript).
  • Non-financial associations that may be relevant or seen as relevant to the submitted manuscript.

    • When submitting a research paper, all authors must download and complete a copy of the disclosure form, which is available as a PDF at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/. They should keep a copy of the form and send a copy to their corresponding author who must insert within the submitted manuscript a summary statement derived from the information provided in the forms. This statement will be included in the published article. The forms for all authors must also be included as supplemental files, and will be published online for all accepted research papers.

    Example competing interest statements

    Statement in Research manuscripts should take the following format:

    "Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work [or describe if any]; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years [or describe if any]; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work [or describe if any].”

    Below are some examples for different sorts of disclosures.

    No competing interests

    "All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work."

    Grant funding for research but no other competing interest

    "All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: all authors had financial support from ABC Company for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work."

    Mixed

    "All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; AB has received research grants and honorariums from XYZ company, BF has been paid for developing and delivering educational presentations for BBB foundation, DF does consultancy for HHH and VVV companies; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work."

    "All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: financial support for the submitted work from ABC Company; AB has received research grants and honorariums from XYZ company, BF has been paid for developing and delivering educational presentations for BBB Company, DF does consultancy of HHH and VVV companies; AB chairs the BAA guideline committee on disease Y, BF is a member of the Royal College of Physicians’ guideline committee on gastroenterology."

    Editorials and Education (including clinical reviews, practice articles, minerva pictures, and endgames. Excluding state of the art reviews and therapeutics articles)

    All authors must complete The BMJ's Education Declaration of Interests form.

    The BMJ's Education declaration of interest policy

    In 2014 The BMJ implemented a policy for such articles to be written by authors without relevant financial ties to industry. By "industry" we mean companies producing drugs, devices, or tests; medical education companies; or other companies with an interest in the topic of the article.

    We consider the following relationships with industry to be relevant, making it unlikely that we would be able to publish your work.

  • Employment.
  • Ownership of stocks and shares.
  • Travel and accommodation expenses.
  • Paid consultancy or directorship.
  • Patent ownership.
  • Paid membership of speakers panels/bureaus and advisory board.
  • Research.
  • Being in receipt of a fellowship, equipment, writing, or administrative support.
  • Writing or consulting for a medical education promotional or communications company.


    • When submitting an editorial, clinical review or practice article:

  • If your article is not commissioned by The BMJ please note that relevant financial links with industry are not permitted. If you are in doubt about the relevance of any potential conflict of interest please discuss with the editor of the appropriate section before submission.
  • Decisions about whether or not an interest disqualifies the person from taking on a particular task for The BMJ will be taken in the first instance by the section editor. If there is doubt by the editor or author about the relevance of the interest it will be discussed at the editors’ monthly internal meeting. If the editors fail to reach a unanimous decision the matter will be referred to the Editor in Chief, whose decision is final.
  • All authors must review the updated COI policy and complete The BMJ's Education Declaration of Interests form.
  • If the paper is accepted for publication these completed forms will be stored and made available on request.
  • The corresponding author should insert within their manuscript a summary statement derived from the information provided in the forms—see below. This will be included in the published article.

    “I/We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: [list them or state that you have none].”

    • Examples of different sorts of summary statements

    No competing interests

    “We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare that we have no competing interests.”

    Competing interests disclosed

    “We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: AA is an unpaid member of XX group developing guidelines for ZZ.

    All other article types (including blogs)

    All authors must complete this form.

    Reviewers

    We also ask reviewers to provide statements of competing interests and we use these when assessing the value of peer review reports. We ask individual reviewers to provide a statement based on BMJ policy at the time they submit their review via our manuscript tracking system.

    Staff declarations at The BMJ

    You can find information about the competing interests of The BMJ's staff on their profile pages.

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