Verma Vivek
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2017 Oct 1;99(2):286-291. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2017.03.020. Epub 2017 Mar 18.
To quantitate financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs) among radiation oncology peer-reviewers, specifically editorial board members of the 3 American Society for Radiation Oncology journals.
The public Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database delineates payments in 3 categories (general payments, research funding, and company ownership). After excluding non-US and non-MDs, names of board members were searched. Values of each FCOI were extracted for 2013 to 2015 and compiled.
Of 85 board members, 65 (76%) received any form of payment during the overall period. The majority of delivered payments were general payments: 59 (69%) received at least 1 general payment during these 3 years. In each year, 9 board members (11%) received research funding, and 3 board members (4%) reported company ownership. Over the studied period, all board members received a sum total of $5,387,985; this was composed of $665,801 (12%) in general payments, $3,758,968 (70%) in research funding, and $963,216 (18%) in company ownership. The mean general payment and research funding amounts (all members) were $2,621 and $14,741, respectively. Median (interquartile range) general payments and research funding only in board members receiving payments were $419 ($91-$5072) and $56,250 ($13,345-$200,000), respectively. When assessing general payments according to amount, the vast majority of editorial board members received lower-quantity or no such payments, along with a smaller proportion that received higher-volume payments. The most frequent sources of general payments were Varian, Elekta, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Merck and Varian were the most frequent funding sources for research payments.
In this population, the majority of FCOIs were general payments, but research funding comprised the highest monetary sums. Large-volume FCOIs do not apply to the vast majority of editorial board members, implying that the maintained integrity of academic peer-review is likely not influenced to a large extent by FCOIs.
对放射肿瘤学同行评审员，特别是美国放射肿瘤学会3本期刊的编辑委员会成员的经济利益冲突（FCOIs）进行量化。
医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心公开支付数据库将支付分为3类（一般支付、研究资助和公司所有权）。在排除非美国人和非医学博士之后，搜索了委员会成员的姓名。提取并汇总了2013年至2015年每个FCOI的值。
在85名委员会成员中，65名（76%）在整个期间接受了任何形式的支付。支付的大部分是一般支付：在这3年中，59名（69%）至少接受了1次一般支付。每年有9名委员会成员（11%）获得研究资助，3名委员会成员（4%）报告拥有公司所有权。在研究期间，所有委员会成员共获得5387985美元；其中一般支付为665801美元（12%），研究资助为3758968美元（70%），公司所有权为963216美元（18%）。一般支付和研究资助的平均金额（所有成员）分别为2621美元和14741美元。仅接受支付的委员会成员的一般支付和研究资助的中位数（四分位间距）分别为419美元（91美元至5072美元）和56250美元（13345美元至200000美元）。在根据金额评估一般支付时，绝大多数编辑委员会成员接受的是低金额或无此类支付，只有一小部分接受高金额支付。一般支付最常见的来源是瓦里安、医科达和百时美施贵宝。默克和瓦里安是研究支付最常见的资助来源。
在这一群体中，大多数FCOIs是一般支付，但研究资助的金额最高。大量的FCOIs并不适用于绝大多数编辑委员会成员，这意味着学术同行评审的持续完整性可能在很大程度上不受FCOIs的影响。
