Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: RM is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship, GNT1124207, and hosts a podcast funded by Cochrane Australia. The idea for this collection of content was suggested by RM and adapted in collaboration with the listed authors. FG and HM are editors of The BMJ, which is committed to increasing transparency and ensuring that evidence and practice are independent from financial interests. The BMJ receives income from commercial advertisers and sponsors, declared annually at https://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/publishing-model. RM has a longstanding interest in conflicts of interest, enhanced transparency, and more independence from commercial interests in healthcare and is cochair of the Preventing Overdiagnosis scientific committee. CH has received expenses and fees for his media work, and he holds grant funding from the NIHR, the NIHR School of Primary Care Research and The NIHR Oxford BRC. CH is Editor in Chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, an NHS urgent care GP and Director of CEBM, which jointly runs the EvidenceLive Conference with the BMJ and the Overdiagnosis Conference with international partners based on a non-profit model. RM and LB are guest editors of the BMJ themed collection on commercial interests.