You are here

Article Text

Article menu
XML
Obstetrics and gynaecology
Research
Proliferation of gynaecological scientific societies and their financial transparency: an Italian survey
  1. Paolo Vercellini1,2,
  2. Paola Viganò2,3,
  3. Maria Pina Frattaruolo1,2,
  4. Edgardo Somigliana2,4
  1. 1Department of Clinical Science and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
  2. 2Center for Research in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Milan, Italy
  3. 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
  4. 4Infertility Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda—Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Professor Paolo Vercellini; paolo.vercellini{at}unimi.it

Abstract

Objectives To determine the number of Italian obstetrical and gynaecological societies, and to ascertain their financial transparency.

Design Internet-based national survey and website content analysis.

Participants Currently active, not privately owned, non-religious, apolitical, obstetrical and gynaecological associations.

Methods From October 2014 to June 2015, scientific societies were identified using combinations of search terms, and examining the website of the two main Italian obstetrical and gynaecological organisations. Individual societies’ websites were scrutinised by two independent investigators.

Primary and secondary outcome measures Number of Italian obstetrical and gynaecological associations and its variation over time; 12 information categories defining the general characteristics of the societies and their websites, and the financial transparency of the associations.

Results The initial web search yielded 56 professional obstetrical and gynaecological associations but nine were excluded for various reasons. Of the remaining 47 professional associations, 17 covered both obstetrics and gynaecology, four were specialised in obstetrics, 26 in gynaecology and 46 provided continuing medical education (CME) activities. The number of societies has quadrupled in the last 35 years, increasing at a mean rate of one additional society per year. The headquarters of the associations were located in the offices of a professional congress organiser in 15 instances, and advertisements or links to industry products were present in 12 societies’ websites. Bylaws were accessible in 32 websites. No information was publicly available regarding competing interests, financial statements and quantitative external funding.

Conclusions The number of obstetrical and gynaecological societies is remarkably high in Italy, particularly in the gynaecological area. Despite CME activity provision, transparency of societies regarding financial issues and competing interests was almost non-existent. Policies addressing the interactions between medical associations and industry are available and should be implemented.

  • SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
  • OBSTETRICS
  • GYNAECOLOGY
  • COMPETING INTERESTS

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008370

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Supplementary materials

    • Supplementary Data

      This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.