The Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine's "Editorial Ethics and Compliance Standards" document was drafted with the help of a working group composed of Harvard Medical School deans, faculty, and key advisors. This document details a set of strict policies and procedures to ensure the editorial strength and integrity of the Sleep and Health Education Program, ensuring that content development for both public education and CME meets the strictest standards in the industry – those of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Continuing Medical Education (HMS/DCE), the National Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), and WGBH.
The Editorial Ethics and Compliance Standards for the Sleep and Health Education Program are designed to build and maintain the public’s trust in the information we present. To this end, the standards strive to:
- avoid any situation where a conflict of interest could influence content;
- foster a web environment of openness and transparency in which relevant commercial interests are disclosed, any conflicts of interest are disclosed and resolved, and web site visitors are able to form their own judgments about potential conflicts based on disclosure facts; and
- operate within a system of checks and balances that includes not only clear disclosure requirements but also independent reviews, a conflict resolution process, and editorial and oversight committees that collaborate to maintain the standards.