- All advertisements and commercially sponsored publications are independent from editorial decisions. BMC does not endorse any product or service marked as an advertisement or promoted by a sponsor in BMC publications. Editorial content is not compromised by commercial or financial interests, or by any specific arrangements with advertising clients or sponsors.
- BMC reserves the right to decline any type of advertising that is damaging to the brand of BMC or is inappropriate to the content held on the BMC network.
- BMC will not accept advertising for products or services known to be harmful to health (e.g. tobacco and alcohol products).
- Advertisements may not be deceptive or misleading, and must be verifiable. Advertisements should clearly identify the advertiser and the product or service being offered. Exaggerated or extravagantly worded copy will not be allowed. Advertisements will not be accepted if they appear to be indecent or offensive in either text or artwork, or if they relate to content of a personal, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, or religious nature.
- Once an advertisement has been deployed online, it will be withdrawn from the journal site at any time if the Editor(s)-in-Chief or Publisher request its removal.
- BMC will not allow any treatment-specific or drug-specific campaign to be targeted to a specific article(s) or on any page where content relates to the product(s) being advertised. (Advertisers may not link to articles using keywords; they may not target advertising for a specific product on the condition that it appear in the same location and at the same time as a specific article mentioning that product and they may not refer to an article published at the same time as the advertisement appears).
- All advertisements for drug-specific campaigns must comply with the relevant European and UK legislation that regulates advertising. Information about the latest legislation, as well as good practice guidelines, can be found on the MHRA website. . Advertisers should make available to BMC the marketing authorization and summary of product characteristics when submitting their advertisement. In the case of drug advertisements, the full generic name of each active ingredient should appear. Each page of an advertisement for a prescription-only medicine should be clearly labeled as intended for health professionals.
- All advertisements for drug specific campaigns should encourage correct and rational use and must not be misleading.
- Advertisements and editorial content must be clearly distinguishable. BMC will not publish “advertorial” content, and sponsored supplements must be clearly indicated as such. If a supplement did not undergo peer review or underwent a peer review-process different from the rest of the journal that should be explicitly stated.
- Editorial decisions will not be influenced by current or potential sponsors and advertisers, and will not be influenced by marketing decisions. Advertisers and sponsors have no control or influence over the results of searches a user may conduct on the website by keyword or search topic.
- If any advert is requested outside of BMC standard advertising positions then a request should be made to editorial who will respond with a full and final decision within two business days.
- Information about complaints concerning advertisements will be included in the Advertisements page.
- We partner with third-party advertising companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our website. These companies may use cookies or web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information [not including your name, address, email address or telephone number] during your visit to this website to help show advertisements on other websites also likely to be of interest to you. To learn more about this “behavioral advertising” practice or to opt-out of this use of your anonymous information, you can visit here
Advertising complaints policy
Please send any complaints about advertising to: info@biomedcentral.com
Advertising Standards Authority(ASA)
The Advertising Standards Authority investigates complaints about published medicines advertisements and ensures compliance with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion which include a section on medicines advertising. It also monitors advertising in the press, direct marketing and sales promotion and on the Internet. Advertisements directed at health professionals are exempt from the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion.
The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA)
Complaints about the advertising of medicines supplied on prescription are considered by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority under the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry. Complaints which are made under the Code about promotional activities and promotional material are considered by the Code of Practice Panel, the decisions of which can be appealed to the Code of Practice Appeal Board. Reports on completed cases are published quarterly in the Code of Practice Review.
Policy correct as of 17/1/14