Online advertising and sponsorship policy
Policy on electronic advertising
BMJ Group accepts electronic advertising on its online versions of its journals, including bmj.com and BMJ Journals Online—for example, Gut, Heart, and Thorax.
Online advertising that is acceptable includes web-based formats such as banner advertisements, skyscraper advertisements and sponsored messages or advertisements at the top of email alerts.
Online advertising can be targeted to a specific country when this is available, and advertising can be placed on every page belonging to one section,
Advertisements can be targeted towards specific subject selections but cannot be targeted towards specific articles.
At present, advertisements cannot be targeted towards specific keywords and key-names, unless via Google Adsense, with which BMJ Group has an agreement.
Advertisements cannot be booked to appear at the top and bottom of the same page.
All advertisements must comply with the guidelines laid out by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), as well as the principles laid out by the British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion.
All advertisements for pharmaceutical products must comply with ABPI guidelines if they are to be seen in the UK.
In addition, advertisements for pharmaceutical products targeting the UK must link to a billboard advert, including prescribing information that is hosted on pharma.bmj.com
Third party ad-serving and tracking is forbidden unless under certain circumstances and with written permission from BMJ Group.
Geographically targeted advertisements must comply with the laws of the country in which they are to be seen, and this is the responsibility of the advertisers.
Advertisements, including banner and skyscraper advertisements and sponsored messages at the top of email alerts that are distributed worldwide and are not geographically targeted must comply with the laws of the UK, which is the country in which BMJ Group’s publications are deemed to be published.
The following BMJ Group products do not allow electronic advertising; Clinical Evidence, Health Intelligence
Policy on sponsorship of electronic products
BMJ Group allows sponsorship of some of its electronic products, including BMJ Learning, and foreign language editions of Clinical Evidence. A sponsor, however, cannot have any influence on the content of BMJ Group electronic products, including email alerts
All advertisements must comply with the guidelines laid out by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), as well as the principles laid out by the British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion
All advertisements for pharmaceutical products must comply with ABPI Guidelines if they are to be seen in the UK
Sponsorship of electronic products will be acknowledged and clearly indicated on an ‘Industry Partners’ page. Company information can be provided and will sit behind a sponsor’s logo. This information will be held within BMJ Group electronic product with no outside links
BMJ Group logos may only appear on a sponsor’s website with written permission
a. Specific guidelines for BMJ Learning
(i) BMJ Learning Landing Pages
BMJ Learning Landing pages can be sponsored in the form of a banner advertisement, an interactive banner advertisement or a text statement with logo. Interactive banner advertisements will provide a link to a sponsor’s message, which could be hosted by BMJ Group or the sponsor
(ii) BMJ Learning Modules
BMJ Learning modules can be sponsored in the form of a banner advertisement, an interactive banner advertisement or a text statement with logo. These can appear on the opening page and final page of a module but not through a module. Sponsorship can range from the sponsorship of individual modules to a collection of modules containing information on a particular therapeutic topic. Interactive banner advertisements will provide a link to a sponsor’s message, which could be hosted by BMJ Group or the sponsor
(iii) BMJ Learning Email Alerts
BMJ Learning email alerts can be sponsored in the form of a text statement with logo. Three sponsorship options are provided
1. Sponsorship of BMJ Learning general email alerts
2. Sponsorship of BMJ Learning general email alerts, with the guarantee that 50% of the topic included will have relevance to the therapeutic area(s) that a sponsor works in
3. Sponsorship of BMJ Learning targeted email alerts containing content that is of interest to the recipient. The recipients of such email alerts will be determined by the history of BMJ Learning modules completed. The timetable of targeted email alerts is under the control of BMJ Group
(iii) Sponsored Subscriptions to BMJ Learning
The BMJG actively encourages sponsorship of subscriptions by any ethical organisation wishing to support healthcare professionals. From 31st January 2006, BMJ Learning becomes a closed site with free access restricted to members of the BMA.
A sponsored subscription to BMJ Learning is allowed through referral based access, where non-BMA members will be able to access BMJ Learning from a sponsor’s website.
Acknowledgement of sponsorship will be in the form of a text statement on the opening page of BMJ Learning – ‘This subscription to BMJ Learning has been provided by an educational grant from_____.’ The sponsor’s logo may appear as part of the acknowledgement.
Sponsored subscription will be available through licensing BMJ Learning content (see below) and by providing a link to BMJ Learning (see below) from a sponsor’s website. The terms and conditions of sponsored subscriptions will be determined by BMJG.
(iv) Sponsor’s link to BMJ Learning
A link to BMJ Learning can be provided for placement on an appropriate sponsor’s website. The terms and conditions of providing a link to BMJ Learning will be determined by BMJ Group.
(v) Licensing BMJ Learning content
The interactive content from BMJ Learning may be licensed out for the use of a sponsor on an appropriate sponsor’s website. Any content licensed out remains the property of the BMJ Group and therefore cannot be altered in anyway. Acknowledgement that content has come BMJ Learning must be made on the sponsor’s website – ‘The following content is brought to you from BMJ Learning – bmjlearning.com’. The BMJ Learning logo must also appear as part of the acknowledgement. Licensed content from BMJ Learning may be reformatted to match the design of the sponsor’s website. Agreement to do this must be obtained from BMJ Group beforehand. The content from a maximum of three modules can be licensed out at anyone time to anyone sponsor. The terms and conditions for licensed content will be determined by BMJ Group
