Footnotes

• Twitter @Richards_G_C, @JKAronson, @carlheneghan

• Contributors All authors contributed to the idea for this editorial. GCR wrote the first draft. JA and CH revised and edited the manuscript. All authors read, reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

• Competing interests GCR is financially supported by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (SPCR), the Naji Foundation, and the Rotary Foundation to study for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Oxford. GCR is the Editorial Registrar of BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. JA is an Associate Editor of BMJ Evidence Based Medicine; he has published articles and edited textbooks on adverse drug reactions and interactions and has often given medicolegal advice, including appearances as an expert witness in coroners’ courts. CH is Editor in Chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. CH is an NIHR Senior Investigator and has received expenses and fees for his media work (including payments from BBC Radio 4 Inside Health), received expenses from the WHO and FDA, and holds grant funding from the NIHR, the NIHR SPCR, the NIHR SPCR Evidence Synthesis Working Group (Project 380), the NIHR BRC Oxford and the WHO. CH has received financial remuneration from an asbestos case and given free legal advice on mesh cases. CH has also received income from the publication of a series of toolkit books published by Blackwells. On occasion, CH receives expenses for teaching EBM and is also paid for his GP work in NHS out of hours (contract with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust). CH is Director of CEBM, which jointly runs the EvidenceLive/EBMLive Conference with the BMJ and the Overdiagnosis Conference with international partners, based on a non-profit making model.

• Patient consent for publication Not required.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.