The cohabitation of academia and industry: What position do the medical journals take regarding opinion articles?

Should medical journals publish editorials and educational articles written by authors who have financial conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries on whose products (or their competitors) they discuss? In the last 18 months, a controversy was sparked between The New England Journal of Medicine and BMJ, who took 2 opposite positions: the former stated that the negative bias against authors with conflicts of interest with industry is excessive and therefore accept articles from any expert, ensuring that they have the minimum possible bias. BMJ, in contrast, prohibits the publication of these types of article by authors who have financial conflicts of interest with industry. This article discusses the approaches of the 2 journals (and those of others) and reflects on this type of conflict in the medical profession.