Purpose
Accurate financial disclosure is essential to prevent bias in scientific reporting.
We aimed (1) to document the extent of industry financial payments to hand surgery
literature authors and (2) to uncover discrepancies in author self-declared conflict
of interest (COI).
Methods
We screened all scientific and review articles published in 2017 from the American
editions of 4 peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Hand Surgery [JHS], Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery [JBJS], Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery [PRS], and Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons [JAAOS]) to identify authors of hand, wrist, elbow, and peripheral nerve topics. We compared
self-reported disclosures with industry-reported payments on the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services’ Open Payments Database (OPD) for 3 years prior to publication
or per journal policy. We individually examined each for relevance of the corporate
payer to the article’s subject matter.
Results
We found 630 eligible authors from 395 articles. The total amount of industry-reported
payments over 3 years prior to publication was $24,396,607.80. The median total payments
per author per year was $118.40, with interquartile range from $0 to $1,364; 68% of
authors received some industry payment; the most common being food and beverage (66%
of authors). Senior authors received significantly more industry payments (median,
$2,985.67/y) than first and middle authors ($70.27 and $113.17, respectively). Of
all authors examined, 58% had undisclosed payments, but only 14% were relevant to
the article subject matter. Authors in JAAOS & JBJS, senior authors, and those receiving more than $500,000 from industry were less likely
to accurately report all payments.
Conclusions
Industry payments to hand surgery authors were lower than those reported to other
orthopedic specialties and tended to be concentrated in a few authors receiving large
amounts. Relevant COI disclosure inaccuracies are infrequent within hand surgery literature.
Uniform policies of complete disclosure across journals may remove author judgment
regarding payment relevance to published material and help eliminate remaining COI
errors. Authors may reference the OPD prior to submitting disclosures to prevent potential
discrepancies and identify errors within the database.
Clinical relevance
Relationships with industry offer opportunities for innovation, education, and research,
but overlooking COI self-reporting may erode confidence in the academic integrity
of the hand surgery literature.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 01, 2020
Accepted:
February 25,
2020
Received:
April 5,
2019
Footnotes
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
