Guidelines for Advertisements in ONS Website and Publications

Terms

The following guidelines have been established by the Oman neurology Society for https://www.omanneurologysociety.org/ and any other media sites related to the ONS. It also governs various aspects of advertising within the ONS publications, including print publications, websites, emails, and mobile applications.

As used in these guidelines, the terms "Advertising" and "Advertisements" include third party banners, contextual advertising, and sponsored content, which include paid advertising by commercial entities for services including: pharmaceutical products, medical devices, patients’ communities, insurance companies and any other medical services.

Advertising, as referenced in this document, does not include classified, not‐for‐profit, and ONS in‐house advertising.

These guidelines govern issues of acceptance of advertisements, how advertisements are displayed in the ONS website, social media, publications, and the removal of advertisements.

The ONS has sole and absolute discretion with respect to interpretation and enforcement of these guidelines and all other issues associated with advertising.

The ONS board may change these guidelines at any time in its sole discretion by posting revised guidelines.

Under no circumstances will the acceptance of any advertisement be considered an endorsement of the product(s) and/or service(s) advertised or for the company that advertises, manufactures, distributes, or promotes the products or services.

Uniform Guidelines

1. The term of advertisement is of a maximum 6 months, renewable by ONS board approval after submitting a renewal request by the advertiser.

2. The term fees (specified by a contract) are payable to the ONS bank account through bank transfer or by a cheque to ONS.

3. Materials to be advertised have to be submitted to the ONS board for contents approval.

4. Any images, words or phrases that are potentially lewd, suggestive, offensive, exaggerated, frightening or demeaning are not permitted.

5. Images must be consistent with the content of the advertisement. No images of, names of, or quotes from actual physicians or scientists or company’s sites, factories and offices that are advertising may be used.

6. Products are defined as pharmaceuticals or devices rather than brands or services, such as a hospital, clinic, or academic department. Quotations from published references may be used.

7. All claims mentioned within an advertisement unit must contain a citation or asterisk and a reference to the study’s primary outcome measure, and cannot be skewed for the benefit of the advertiser. The citation and reference must be included. This includes:

a. Clinical trials

b. Efficacy claims for pharmacologic treatment or therapeutic devices

c. Competitive products mentioned in the advertisement

d. Exclusivity/novelty claims (“the first,” “the only”) need not be referenced since these claims are regulated by the FDA.

8. The ONS prefers references from original, peer‐reviewed article(s); however, if not available, references must be clearly stated as “Data on File,” “Prescribing Information,” or “Package Insert,” and be easily accessible to the reader on the creative portion of the advertisement unit. In the case of novelty claims unrelated to orphan drugs, citations may reference studies showing use of the product for the condition for which the claim is being made.

9. Advertisements can neither include a Continuing Medical Education (CME) offerings or credit, nor test pages.

10. Conference advertisements will be considered on a case-by-case basis; after discussion and approval by ONS board. Fees may be waived according to the board decision for local, regional and international scientific conferences in the field of neuroscience.

11. The types of advertisements that are not permitted include, but are not limited to: illegal or objectionable products; fraudulent, deceptive, illicit, misleading, or offensive material; material that misrepresents, discriminates (real or implied), or attacks an individual or group on the basis of age, national origin, race, religion, gender, disability, or any protected class or other status deemed inappropriate like alcohol; weapons, addictive and tobacco products.

12. References to other society/organizational guidelines are subject to ONS approval.

Design:

1. For all digital advertisements, the advertiser must provide of all sizes for approval and the url link to the product landing page for reference. The must include links to the package insert. If the advertisement mentions a claim, then it must include a citation or asterisk and reference(s) within the advertisement space itself. If space is a constraint, the reference may be abbreviated. Acceptable reference abbreviation is first author name and et al, journal name, volume, page numbers.

2. Digital (including but not limited to tablet, mobile, and online) advertisements must have the word “Advertisement” at the top or bottom of the advertisement.

3. The word “ADVERTISEMENT” must appear in boldface type (minimum 12‐point font size) at the top‐ center of each page of ALL advertorials, case studies, disease awareness advertisements, and business reply cards (BRCs). Such material should be designed so that it is clearly distinct in look from the ONS site content.

4. Company logo must appear prominently at the top and/or bottom of each page.

5. The title must be boxed or a separation line placed between it and the text.

6. The title and text must be in fonts easily distinguishable from fonts used in the ONS website/media/prints title and text. 

7. One page spread is the maximum ad unit size for advertorials in JPG format with a short summary and the link to the product’s web site.