Spousal and Kinship Co-Authorship Should be Declared to Avoid Conflicts of Interest

Silva, Jaime A. Teixeira da; Rivera, Horacio

doi:10.1007/s11673-021-10123-1

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The PLOS guidelines for COIs [6] already spell out several categories succinctly, but some of these are expanded upon next, for clarity. At first, editors whose "spouses (husband, wife, legal partner) or kin (family member or relation)" are coauthors or share editorial positions on the same or different editor board, should be clearly indicated in their CVs and editorial profiles, "whether they share the same or have separate family names" [22]. As was argued in that paper, such positions could lead to ideological, intellectual or even practical (financial and non-financial) bias or influence (e.g., related to papers, projects, funding, collaborations, etc.).…”

Section: What Parameters Define An Editorial Non-financial Conflict Of Interest?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal Conflicts of Interest in the Publishing Enterprise: Focus on Journal Editors

Silva

2021

CAJMHE

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Editors play a central role and form an essential link in the publication process. Consequently, they hold considerable influence as to how the literature is molded, and what eventually gets published. In addition to their standard editorial responsibilities, holding that amount of power, editors have extremely high responsibilities to declare any conflicts of interest (COIs) internal to, and external to, the peer review process, particularly those involving personal relationships and networks. This is because they also exist in the peer community, can be high-profile public figures, and form a very unique and restricted – in terms of size, membership and exclusivity – set of individuals. Consequently, editors need to declare their COIs openly, transparently, and publicly on their editor board profiles, and as part of their curriculum vitae. Without such declarations, the greater risk is that editors might have unregulated freedom to enforce their own individual or group biases, through hidden relationships and networks, including the possibility of hiding instances of favoritism, cronyism and nepotism. In the worst-case scenario, this might reflect editorial corruption. Hidden COIs in authors, which tend to be the focus of the academic publishing establishment, including in codes of conduct and ethical guidelines such as those by COPE and the ICMJE, tend to down-play editorial COIs, or restrict them to scrutiny during the peer review process. This opinion piece examines whether there is a systemic problem with under-reported editorial COIs, particularly personal and non-financial COIs, that extend beyond the peer review process and their editorial positions. Greater awareness, debate, and education of this issue are needed.

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Section: What Parameters Define An Editorial Non-financial Conflict Of Interest?mentioning

confidence: 99%