2.2.7.5 Declarations of Interest by Cochrane authors

In March 2008, it was agreed that ‘Declarations of Interest’ should be separated from ‘Licences for Publication’ because conflicts of interest are often not declared. Each member of the review authoring team of a Cochrane protocol or review now has the option either to complete an individual ‘Declaration of Interest’ and forward it to the CRG editorial base, or to sign and forward it to his/her co-authors for signing and forwarding in turn to his/her CRG editorial base. The CRG editorial base should keep all ‘Declarations of Interest’ on file. The Collaboration does not have a policy concerning the stage in the process, between title registration and publication, at which ‘Declarations of Interest’ should be signed: it is up to the editorial base staff. Authors should not be concerned about answering ‘YES’ to any of the questions. Answering ‘YES’ does not indicate good or bad; it is simply something to declare on the form and consider for inclusion in the ‘Declarations’ section of the published review.

Each author must complete a ‘Declaration of Interest’ before publication can proceed. Copies, or scanned versions, should be returned by e-mail, post or fax to the Managing Editor at the Review Group’s editorial base.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Declaration of Interest

Cochrane review ID:

Review Title:

Review Group:

Author(s):

The Cochrane Collaboration’s general policy states, “The performance of the review must be free of any real or perceived bias introduced by receipt of any benefit in cash or kind, any hospitality, or any subsidy derived from any source that may have or be perceived to have an interest in the outcome of the review.”

Please answer the following questions (all authors must answer):

1.              Have you in the past five years accepted the following from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions of your Cochrane review:

o        Payment (excluding the reimbursement of expenses) for attending a symposium or other event? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

o        An honorarium for presenting or speaking? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

2.              Have you received any gifts (relevant to the review) in cash or in kind? YES/NO    [delete as appropriate]

o        A fee for organising education? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

o        Funds for research? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

o        Funds for staff? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

o        Fees for consulting? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

3.              Have you in the past five years been employed by an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results or the conclusions of your Cochrane review? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

4.              Do you directly hold any stocks or shares (excluding mutual funds) in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions of your Cochrane review? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

5.              Have you acted as an expert witness or paid advisor on the subject of your Cochrane review? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

6.              Have you been involved in the design, conduct or publication of a potentially eligible study for your Cochrane review? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]

7.              Do you have any other competing financial or other interests? YES/NO [delete as appropriate]   If YES, please specify:

If you have answered ‘YES’ to any of the questions above, you may have a competing interest which should be declared. Please draft a statement to publish with your review in the space below. This will be reviewed by the Lead author and Cochrane Review Group editorial base staff for inclusion in your review.

Authors should not be concerned about answering ‘YES’ to any of the questions. ‘YES’ answers do not indicate good or bad, but are simply something to declare on this form and consider for inclusion in the Declarations section of the published review.

If you have answered ’NO’ to all the above questions, please enter ‘None known’.

Declaration of Interest statement:

Author:

[contact details inserted automatically]

Date:                                                    Signature: