Conflict-of-Interest.net

Here’s an interesting story that is particularly appropriate for this blog – FTC to bloggers: Fess up or pay up. The US Federal Trade Commission is requiring that independent bloggers disclose any interests (especially financial) that they might have in the stories they produce, particularly if this involves reviews or evaluations of products. As the story notes, the FTC is trying to deal with an issue that has long been a challenge in the media and public press. (See also: FTC Drops the Banhammer on Undisclosed Reviews | Infusionsoft Blog)

As a Canadian blogging about academic COI, this move by the FTC has no impact on my behaviour. But it does raise an interesting issue that is more generally of concern to academic presentations and publications, including the growing number of science blogs.

• Blogs are often completely independent from academic or other professional entities and so are essentially free from oversight like peer review.
• Its not clear whether academic blogs should be thought of as “merely” individual opinion, academic self-promotion, or more formal publication (e.g., like at a conference presentation).
• Nor is it very clear that there are (or even could be) widely shared norms about the ethics of blogging given the diversity of people that blog and the types of blogs that exist.
• Yet that doesn’t mean that certain blogging communities, such as academic bloggers, couldn’t try to create locally relevant and accepted norms – its what we academics have done with peer review, debates about declaring COI in publications, grant reviews, etc.

So in the name of transparency:

• this blog is hosted on a private web server, paid for out of my pocket, and my solely responsibility;
• I receive no income from this blog, and if I do I review a product (e.g., a book), I’ll be transparent about whether I received  a free copy of the book;
• the blog is a front page (and thus publicity) for my ongoing research programme on COI that recently received grant funding from the Quebec (FQRSC) and Canadian (CIHR) funding councils.