Influence of Disclosed and Undisclosed Funding Sources in Tobacco Harm Reduction Discourse: A Social Network Analysis.

Tobacco harm reduction (THR) discourse has been divisive for the tobacco control community, partially because it sometimes aligns public health and tobacco industry interests. Industry funding is contentious as it influences study outcomes, and is not always disclosed in scientific publications. Vassey and colleagues examined the role of disclosed and undisclosed industry support on THR publications via social network analysis. The study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research revealed that authors with industry support exerted a stronger influence on the THR scientific discourse than non-industry-supported authors. They had twice as many publications (Median = 4), 1.25 as many collaborators on publications (Median = 5), and higher likelihood of connecting other authors and thus having more influence in the network, compared to non-industry-sponsored authors. E-cigarette industry-sponsored authors had stronger association with undisclosed industry support than authors supported by pharmaceutical or tobacco industry. The study is available on the NTR website and on PubMed.
https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntac250/6780022