Summary
Emerging Health Threats Forum is committed to the highest standards of editorial integrity and independence. The Forum seeks to maintain independence through good governance internally, a relationship of trust with external editors, and careful management of the relationship with its sponsors.
 
Background
The original impetus for creating Emerging Health Threats Forum came from senior scientists at the UK’s Health Protection Agency, some of whom serve on the Forum’s Editorial Board and Scientific Advisory Council.  However, the Forum is independent of the HPA and is incorporated as a Community Interest Company under the regulation of the UK’s Community Interest Regulator.

The Forum charges no fee to readers or authors. It therefore relies on sponsorship by other organisations to continue its activities - some of which comes from charitable trusts, some from public corporations as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility objectives. These organisations do not affect, directly or indirectly, editorial decisions made by the News and Journals teams. In addition, the Forum undertakes not to accept advertising or sponsorship now or in the future that could compromise editorial independence.
 
News
News reporting at the Forum aims to be critical and unbiased, using a cross-section of opinions from the scientific and policy communities. The Forum staff have complete independence over editorial decisions. The Forum’s sponsors have no influence on editorial decisions, including the choice of articles covered or the editorial angle of any coverage.
 
Journal
Emerging Health Threats Journal subscribes to the statement on Editorial Independence formulated by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and subsequently adopted by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
 
In line with this, the Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the editorial content of the Journal, and has final approval on all decisions to accept or reject manuscripts. Recommendations are made to the Editor-in-Chief by the Associate Editors based on the reports of referees, who are chosen to avoid bias or conflicts of interest. No sponsors or advertisers have any influence over the editorial content and direction of the journal.