Conflicts of Interest Are Common Among Editors of Emergency Medicine Journals

Of 198 U.S. editors of 5 high-impact emergency medicine journals, 60 (30%) had a financial conflict of interest, but only 7 editors had publicly disclosed their conflicts.

Researchers frequently have financial conflicts of interest (COI), and such conflicts may affect trial results (BMJ 2017; 356: i6770). Journal editors also commonly have COI (PLoS One 2018;13: e0197141), although the frequency is less well studied in emergency medicine (EM).

To study the frequency of financial COI among editors at EM journals, the authors identified high impact or high h5-index EM journals and looked for public COI disclosures by all individual editors of those journals. They then searched the United States Open Payments database for general payments and research payments made by industry to the identified editors.

Five EM journals, served by 198 U.S. editors, met inclusion criteria. COI was identified for 60 editors (30%). G…

Reviewing Author

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

Conflicts of Interest Are Common Among Editors of Emergency Medicine Journals

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Reviewing Author