According to this Wall Street Journal article (subscription req'd), resolving author conflicts by disclosing them in a correction after the fact ain't going to cut it anymore. From the article:
- Andrew Wechsler, editor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, says the publication plans to issue corrections in the two cases to reveal the financial ties of the researchers to AtriCure Inc., a Cincinnati company that makes a system to treat atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm.
Prompted by the AtriCure revelations, the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, which owns the journal, decided that a published correction of a conflict of interest -- a common remedy when authors fail to disclose industry links -- doesn't go "far enough," Dr. Wechsler says. He says the tougher sanctions approved by the surgery society will include barring those individuals and their institutions from publishing in the journal for "some period of time."
I know I've heard of some specialty societies having similar policies for CME faculty, and I can't help but wonder if tougher sanctions for those who fail to disclose conflicts of interest might be coming to a broader realm.
