Ethics and Compliance
Your trust is our cornerstone
Ensuring integrity and trust
Responsibility is at the heart of our mission
As a large and influential scientific society, trusted by clinicians, patients, policymakers and funders, what we recommend carries wide-reaching impact. We uphold the integrity of our work and the reliability of our content through robust ethics and compliance mechanisms, all designed to ensure the highest standards in everything we do.
Our governance structures, including our Conflict of Interest Policy and Ethical Conduct Policy, safeguard transparency and accountability across our entire organisation and ensure that we remain the definitive source of evidence-based expertise you can rely on.
Our values
Who we are as a society
Our values underwrite who we are as a society dedicated to transforming heart health and saving lives.
Integrity
- Be trustworthy through rational, enlightened, and transparent decisions
- Adhere to strong principles and the transparency of motivation, processes, and leadership
- Doing what we say we will do
- Be responsible for our society, the cardiovascular community, and the environment
Innovation, agility and creativity
- Adapt quickly and creatively to emerging needs and evolving trends
- Be ready to experiment, learn from failure, and improve
Inclusivity, respect and empathy
- Acknowledge and include all stakeholders in cardiovascular medicine
- Welcome and nurture an open and diverse community that is attractive to all
- Cultivate a strong sense of team spirit that drives the society
The pursuit of excellence
- Focus on our mission
- Always keep the patient front of mind
- Leverage our expertise to provide the best possible answers for cardiovascular health
- Maintain and enhance the professionalisation of ESC activities
Our ethical policies
ESC Ethical Conduct Policy
The ESC Ethical Conduct Policy ensures that our volunteers and staff always act with honesty and integrity. By upholding this policy, we protect the scientific integrity and global impact of our work, reinforcing the trust of our entire community, who rely on the ESC as a trusted source of unbiased expertise. The full policy is available in Annex II of the ESC bylaws.
ESC Declaration and Management of Conflict of Interest Policy
We ensure our content remains unbiased through rigorous conflict-of-interest management as outlined in this policy. All leaders, volunteers, and authors submit annual declarations of interest which are reviewed by the ESC Audit Committee. Anyone with a conflict recuses themselves from relevant discussions. We publish updates about this policy to safeguard transparency and the integrity of our scientific work.
BioMed Alliance Code of Conduct
We proudly abide by the BioMed Alliance Code of Conduct, which reinforces our core values as a society. This ensures we deliver essential, unbiased education and guidelines - always for the benefit of you and your patients.
ESC Gender Policy
The ESC is dedicated to creating opportunities for all. We are implementing inclusive policies and fair practices across our organisation, guided by our Gender Policy and the work of the ESC Gender Task Force.
Funding transparency
The ESC is a not-for-profit medical society, meaning our revenues are reinvested to advance cardiovascular science, education and patient care. Our funding comes from a mix of revenue from across our activities, as well as private sector partners.