The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has agreed a standardised format for the reporting of competing interests in biomedical research papers, to better help readers understand the relationship between authors and commercial entities that may have an interest in the information reported. The goal is to make the process of disclosure uniform and easy; a new form should eliminate the need to reformat disclosure information for specific journals. The form also asks for non-financial associations that may be relevant. The form is at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf, including instructions to help authors provide the information, and a sample completed form is at www.icmje.org/sample_disclosure.pdf.
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