If the Funding Arbiters identify a published review or protocol as not adhering to the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Commercial Sponsorship Policy, the Editorial & Methods Department (EMD) will contact the Managing Editor of the Cochrane Review Group (CRG) editorial team on behalf of the Funding Arbiters.
Table 1 outlines what the statement must include, where it should be located, and which What's New/publishing event to use. Table 2 and Table 3 provide template text that CRGs can use in the affected review(s) or protocol(s) in their immediate response (stating noncompliance) and in their longer-term response (addressing compliance after a full update or amendment).
The statement must: | Note | |
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1 | Include the following information:
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2 | Be added to the 'Declarations of interest' section | The 'Declarations of interest' section is the most prominent location for this information (accessible from the top and side navigation of published Cochrane Reviews). The original text in the 'Declarations of interest' section must not be changed; only add the new statement or other content as agreed. |
3 | Have an associated What's New/publishing event of 'Amended’ (no new citation) – for reviews Have an associated What's New/publishing event of 'Major Change' – for protocols |
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Section | Time | Purpose | Template text | Notes on text and formatting |
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Declarations of interest | Following Funding Arbiter request | To state noncompliance and plan for updating/revising to become compliant | For reviews: "Clarification statement added from the Co-ordinating Editor on [date]: This review was found by the Cochrane Funding Arbiters, post-publication, to be noncompliant with the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Cochrane Commercial Sponsorship Policy. It will be updated by [date]. The update will have a majority of authors and lead author free of conflicts." For protocols: "Clarification statement added from the Co-ordinating Editor on [date]: This protocol was found by the Cochrane Funding Arbiters, post-publication, to be noncompliant with the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Cochrane Commercial Sponsorship Policy. When it is published as a review, a majority of authors and the lead author will be free of conflicts. The review is expected to be published by [date]." |
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What’s New/publishing event | Following Funding Arbiter request | To alert readers to statement of noncompliance plan for becoming compliant | For reviews: "Clarification message from the Co-ordinating Editor added to the Declarations of interest statement about the review’s compliance with the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Cochrane Commercial Sponsorship Policy." For protocols: "Clarification message from the Co-ordinating Editor added to the Declarations of interest statement about the protocol's compliance with the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Cochrane Commercial Sponsorship Policy." |
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Section | Time | Purpose | Template text | Notes on text and formatting |
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Declarations of interest | Publication of update/revision to become compliant | To declare new conflicts of interest and to clarify history of conflicts of interest | For reviews: "When originally published, the authors declared no conflict of interest [or – the above/below conflicts of interest]. From [date], the following conflicts of interest were declared. These conflicts applied during the period that the review was in preparation." |
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What's New/publishing event | Publication of update/revision to become compliant | To alert readers to changes in the declarations of interest | For reviews: "The authors' Declarations of interest have been updated to reflect the review's compliance with the Cochrane conflict of interest policy, which includes the relevant parts of the Cochrane Commercial Sponsorship Policy." |
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