AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES
IN INDEPENDENT DRUG BULLETINS
Dominique Broclain,1 Pierre Chirac,1,2 and Ellen t'Hoen1
1International Society of Drug Bulletins, BP 459, 75527 Paris cedix 11, France; 2La revue Prescrire, Paris, France
Objective: The International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB) is a membership organization of independent bulletins and journals on drugs and therapeutics. The Society was founded in 1986 to encourage development of drug bulletins free from commercial influences, promote exchange of reliable information, and facilitate international cooperation. A survey was undertaken to collect information on the quality control procedures of ISDB members.
Design: A questionnaire was mailed to all ISDB members (n=51).
Results: Data analysis covers 29 bulletins from 22 countries (response rate: 57%). Cumulated number of subscribers is 599 529. Readers are mostly medical doctors (72% 8%) or pharmacists (20% 7%). The bulletins are almost always written in the native language (n=27). Authors are frequently in-house (43% 13%). Half of the ISDB bulletins contain no spontaneous submitted articles (n=15). Most bulletins have a peer-review process (n=27). Conflicts of interest declaration from authors (n=6), editors (n=7), and reviewers (n=8) is required by few bulletins. Authors are blinded to reviewers in 6 bulletins, reviewers are blinded to editors or authors in 4 bulletins. The average number of reviewers per article is 7.66 3.5 (ranging from 1 to 50). Readers are sometimes used as reviewers (n=6).
Conclusions: Most ISDB bulletins, regardless of their size, resources, or location, have a quality control process including peer reviewing. Studies should be undertaken to explore the impact of these procedures on accuracy, validity, and clinical relevance of the information provided by ISDB bulletins.
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