A competing interest – often called a conflict of interest – exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). It may arise for the Content Providers of educational modules when they have a financial interest that may influence, probably without their knowing, their emphasis on the content of these modules.

 CMEPEDIA believes that to make the best decision on dealing with a module, we should know about any competing interests that authors may have. If we distribute these modules, our medical health professionals should know about them too. CMEPEDIA is not aiming to eradicate such interests; they are almost inevitable. However, in some instances, we may have to reject the distribution of some modules based of competing interests. We also ask our staff to declare any competing interests.

 A declaration of interest for all authors of a module must be received before a module can be reviewed by CMEPEDIA administrative staff and accepted for distribution. You can use this form to do so.

 CMEPEDIA might reject the distribution of some modules based on competing interests

 CMEPEDIA asks all authors to declare financial as well as non-financial competing interests. Transparency is essential to us, although it is insufficient to eliminate or perceive bias.

 CMEPEDIA believes that the risk of bias is particularly important for clinical, educational articles designed to guide patient care when the author’s biases may be less visible to general medical readers.

 CMEPEDIA compiles a database of educational modules authored by experts without financial ties to the industry. By industry, we mean companies producing drugs, devices, or tests; medical education companies with alliances with industry; or other companies interested in the article's topic.

 Therefore we ask authors to declare interests in the 36 months before the declaration and those known to occur during the next 12 months.

 The CMEPEDIA handling editor carefully assesses each author’s declaration. It may be discussed at a regular editor’s meeting to ensure the editorial team consistently and fairly applies our decisions.

 We will publish the author’s competing interests at the introduction of a module and before the actual purchase of a model is done.

 Why is CMEPEDIA doing this?

 -Making clinical decisions based on information biased by commercial interests can cause harm.

 -Educational content will have more impact if readers can trust it.

 -We like to promote authors without financial ties to the industry.

 Financial competing interests are endemic to the culture of medicine and are rarely driven by malign motives or actions. Our decisions not to proceed with an author are not made lightly. Nor are they intended to pass judgement on an author’s integrity. However, CMEPEDIA cannot ignore the mounting evidence of systematic attempts by commercial interests to corrupt the literature and influence clinical decisions.

 Risk assessment

 As a start-up, CMEPEDIA might lose out on available CME content that could be offered for free or at a low cost. But the ethical arguments are persuasive and this approach will cause less harm over time. CMEPEDIA is willing to miss out on modules on a few topics in exchange for distributing more content by authors with no relevant financial ties to the industry. However, our aim is not to eradicate all competing interests-that would be impossible.

 CMEPEDIA aims to distribute independent accredited educational content at a fair price in developing countries. As CMEPEDIA compiles existing content, there are no production expenses. Distribution via the internet is cost-effective. Therefore, CMEPEDIA has the liberty to remain independent from commercial marketing interests.

 Inspired by:

 Zero tolerance on education articles with financial links to the industry by M. Chew, the practice editor. C. Brizzell, head of education; K. Abbasi, international editor; F. Godlee, editor in chief BMJ 2014:349:g7197

 Be the change you wish to see in the world

 Mahatma Gandhi