JAC Advance Access published online on May 25, 2007
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkm149
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Editorial |
Funding and transparency
JAC Editorial Office, 11 The Wharf, 16 Bridge Street, Birmingham B1 2JS, UK
* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-121-633-0415; Fax: +44-121-643-9497; E-mail: jac{at}bsac.org.uk
Since January 2006 it has been a condition for submission to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy that authors include ‘Transparency declarations’ in their articles. The function of the Transparency declarations section is to compel authors to consider any conflicts of interest that they might have, particularly those of a financial nature, and to state them so that they are evident to readers.
In general this policy has worked well, but it has become apparent that occasionally authors have been uncertain as to whether the source of funding for a study should be regarded as a potential conflict of interest and thus declared in the Transparency declarations section. Historically, authors have listed funding sources in the Acknowledgements section of their papers, although for some studies, often those carried out as part of the normal activity of, for example, a national Reference laboratory (and thus funded from their core budgets), sources of funding have tended not to be mentioned.
In order to clarify the situation, JAC is introducing a new heading for all articles reporting original research. This new ‘Funding’ heading will come after the Acknowledgements and before the Transparency declarations. This heading will become compulsory for all papers submitted from September 2007 onwards, when papers that do not include the Funding heading will not enter the review process but will be returned to the corresponding author so that the appropriate section can be added. From now until September, authors are encouraged to include this new heading and may be asked specifically to do so if their manuscripts are subject to revision prior to acceptance for publication.
Authors must list under the Funding heading any funding (including internal funding) that the study has received so that readers are not left in any doubt as to how a study was supported. If no specific funding has been received then this should be clearly stated; equally if data have been generated as part of the routine work of an organization, this too should be stated. Sources of funding may of course still be thanked in the Acknowledgements section, but should not be listed again in the Transparency declarations, unless there is an important reason for doing so. For example, if the funder played any decision-making role in the research this must be stated. Ongoing financial support for any of the authors should also be included under the Funding heading.
A Funding heading will not be required for Reviews or Leading articles. Please note, however, that authors must be scrupulous in revealing any material support or reimbursement that they have accepted in preparing review material. This should be stated in the Transparency declarations.
Finally, although it is not compulsory, we are happy to include statements explaining the contributions of the individual authors to the study described, if the authors wish to provide them. These statements should be included under the Transparency declarations heading, after the information on any conflicts of interest.
In summary, the three sections at the end of each paper reporting original research submitted to JAC should be:
- Acknowledgements: not compulsory. This section should include expressions of thanks, declarations of presentation in abstract/poster form at a Meeting, lists of study group members etc.
- Funding: compulsory. All funding details should be included in this section.
- Transparency declarations: compulsory. Any conflicts of interest, particularly those of a financial nature (e.g. holding of relevant stocks and shares, receipt of consultancy fees or honoraria) must be included in this section, as should any decision-making role of the funder. Statements regarding contributions of individual authors can also be included in this section.
None to declare.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||