Prevalence and reliability of self-reported authorship disclosures in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

OBJECTIVE: Determine reliability of self-reported authorship disclosures of potential conflicts of interest in American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF)-sponsored presentations and publications. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Retrospective cohort study at academic center. METHODS: Presenters' self-reported disclosures made at the AAO-HNSF annual meeting for calendar years 2006 and 2007 were tabulated. Subsequent publications related to these presentations in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery were analyzed with respect to disclosures revealed at the time of publication. Discrepancies between annual meeting disclosures and publication print disclosures were identified according to author and presentation/paper. Reliability statistics were computed to determine consistency of disclosure reporting and an analysis of potential conflicts of interest according to discrepancies was performed. RESULTS: Five hundred seventy-eight presenters' disclosures were identified at the annual meeting level, which ultimately led to 153 journal publications. A total of 51 authors (8.8%) with disclosure reporting discrepancies were identified (32 authors: one discrepancy; 11 authors: two discrepancies; eight authors: three or more discrepancies). Overall, a mean of 0.14 discrepancies per author (95% confidence interval: 0.10-0.19 discrepancies) was noted. Analyzed by publication, 39 papers (25.5%) contained one or more disclosure discrepancies among authors, ranging from one discrepancy (11.8% of papers) to nine discrepancies (0.7%), with an average of 2.1 authorship disclosure discrepancies per paper. CONCLUSIONS: A significant percentage of authors' disclosures differ between time of presentation and subsequent publication within otolaryngology. Although valid reasons for these discrepancies may exist, analysis of these discrepancies is important for conflict-of-interest determination. (C) 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. All rights reserved.