CBN Policy on Conflicts-of-Interest

The CBN adheres to the Conflict-of-Interest (CoI) policies set out by Cochrane.  According to the Cochrane’s general policy, the performance of a review must be free of any real or perceived bias introduced by receipt of any benefit in cash or kind, any hospitality, or any subsidy derived from any source that may have or be perceived to have an interest in the outcome of the review.

People with a direct financial interest in a particular intervention should not be involved in a review of that intervention, either as authors, editors or peer reviewers.  Please see more details on the Cochrane’s Commercial Sponsorship Policy here.

All CBN authors must complete CoI forms prior to writing the review protocol.  These forms are sent to review authors following title registration.

In cases where there is concern about a conflict on a CBN protocol or review, the matter will be referred to the CBN Editorial Board, and if necessary, the Funding Arbitration Panel.

In areas where there have been concerns about conflicts of interest influencing the results of a systematic review, the CBN reserves the right to add an additional reviewer(s).

Academic Integrity

The CBN upholds an author's right to intellectual property and will not tolerate plagiarism. Authors are requested to properly cite or paraphrase another author's work and are expected to create original text and analyses — copying and pasting the work of others is not acceptable. The CBN has procedures in place to detect plagiarism at all stages of review development, including title registration. Authors suspected of plagiarism will be confronted and depending on the severity of plagiarism may be given guidance on how rephrase or quote another's work or, in extreme cases, banned from any further work with the group. Information on plagiarism can be found here.