Journals Debate Uniform Conflict-Disclosure Rules for Authors

By LILA GUTERMAN

Science and medical journals should institute a universal set of requirements for authors' disclosure of their financial ties, rather than the current hodgepodge of rules, a small group of editors and ethicists said this month. They presented their suggested guidelines at a conference held here by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group that also organized the yearlong effort to develop the universal rules.

A closed-door meeting the next day on the same topic,