Reviewing the Reviewers Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest in Editorial Boards of Surgery Journals

Objective:To assess the prevalence, magnitude, and disclosure status of industry funding in editorial boards of surgery journals. Summary of Background Data:Financial COI can bias research. Although authors seeking to publish in peer-reviewed surgery journals are required to provide COI disclosures, editorial board members' COI disclosures are generally not disclosed to readers. Methods:We present a cross-sectional analysis of industry funding to editorial board members of high-impact surgery journals. We reviewed top US-based surgery journals by impact factor to determine the presence of financial COI in members of each journal's editorial board. The prevalence and magnitude of COI was determined using 2018 industry reported payments found in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database. Journal websites were also reviewed looking for the presence of editorial board disclosure statements. Results:A total of 1002 names of editorial board members from the top 10 high-impact American surgery journals were identified. Of 688 individual physicians based in the USA, 452 (65.7%) were found to have received industry payments in 2018, totaling $21,916,503 with a median funding amount per physician of $1253 (interquartile range $156-$10,769). Funding levels varied by surgical specialty and journal. Editorial board disclosure information was found in only 3.3% of physicians. Conclusions:Industry funding to editorial board members of high impact surgery journals is prevalent and underreported. Mechanisms of disclosure for COI are needed at the editorial board level to provide readers full transparency. This would acknowledge this COI of editorial board members, and thereby attempt to potentially further reduce the risk of bias in editorial decisions.

Automated summary

The study assessed the prevalence and amount of industry funding in the editorial boards of high-impact surgery journals, revealing that 65.7% of individual physicians in the USA received industry payments in 2018, totaling $21,916,503. It was found that editorial board members' COI disclosures were scarce, highlighting the need for disclosure mechanisms to provide full transparency to readers.