Reporting of conflict of interest and sponsorship in dental journals

Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr; Nikolaos Pandis; Gabriela C Cardoso; Bruna Rodolfo; Laura L Morel; Rafael R Moraes

doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2020.103452

Reporting of conflict of interest and sponsorship in dental journals

J Dent. 2020 Nov:102:103452. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2020.103452. Epub 2020 Aug 15.

Authors

Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr¹, Nikolaos Pandis², Gabriela C Cardoso³, Bruna Rodolfo⁴, Laura L Morel⁴, Rafael R Moraes⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany. Electronic address: clovisfaggion@yahoo.com.
² Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Dental School/Medical Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland.
³ Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil.
⁴ School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil.
⁵ Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil; School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil.

PMID: 32805358
DOI: 10.1016/j.jdent.2020.103452

Abstract

Objective: Detailed information on potential conflict of interest (COI) and sponsorship is pivotal for the adequate understanding and appropriate interpretation of the reported study results. The reporting of COI and sponsorship and any potential associations with study characteristics in publications of all dental journals with impact factor was examined.

Methods: The Web of Science database was searched, in March 2019, for articles published from February 28, 2018 to March 1, 2019. A random a sample of 1000 articles in English was selected. Two independent authors extracted the following article characteristics: type of article, dental field, number of authors, country/continent affiliation of the first author, dental journal, journal impact factor, number of citations, Altmetric score, type of COI and sponsorship. Disagreements during data extraction were resolved by discussion and consensus. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the selected variables and multinomial logistic regression was implemented to assess the association between COI, sponsorship, and the other variables.

Results: 3% of dental publications declared a COI, whereas in 32.5% of publications the presence of COI was unclear. The most prevalent type of COI was financial (n = 26). Non-profit organizations funded 37.2% of the articles, while the sponsorship for 40.4% articles was unclear. Regression analysis showed that publications reporting COI had greater odds of receiving sponsorship from for-profit sources.

Conclusions: Sponsorship and COI information seem to be underreported in dental journals. Efforts should be made by authors, journals, and publishers to provide more comprehensive information to allow the reader to understand the potential impact of sponsorship and COI on study results.

Clinical significance: The underreporting of COI and sponsorship in dental articles hinders the interpretation of findings by readers. The results of the present study bring attention to this important topic as well as guide further improvements on the reporting of COI and sponsorship in dental articles.

Keywords: Conflict of interest; medical ethics; publishing.

MeSH terms

Conflict of Interest*
Journal Impact Factor
Periodicals as Topic*