so you've been told to complete a financial interest disclosure before being involved in
a research project and you're wondering what this process has to do with your research
well having a relationship or interest whether financial, professional, personal,
political, or something else related to your research can create conflicts of interest.
Financial interests related to research are common and studies show that these
conflicts can undermine everyone's ability to do accurate objective research.
It's important to identify when a conflict might exist so it can be managed to protect research integrity
this video will introduce you to research conflicts of interest so you can learn how
to avoid real or perceived bias as you do your research and disseminate the results
unfortunately some people consciously choose to exploit conflicts of interest for example by
lining their own Pockets or otherwise benefiting themselves at the expense of their obligation to
conduct research with integrity
researchers may feel pressure to generate strong pilot data to secure funding
or to publish in top tier journals in order to earn tenure
this might tempt investigators to exaggerate their findings even though this would obviously violate
the University's code of ethics
although most researchers won't intentionally do something wrong
some do
more commonly without fully realizing what they are doing and why
researchers may unconsciously depart from best practices in order to advance their careers
research shows that all people are influenced by the self-serving bias which is the tendency
to unconsciously gather process and even remember information in ways that serve our self-interest
a further complication is the fact that substantial percentages of academics who publish
in scientific and medical journals have financial interests such as stock ownership, consulting
contracts, intellectual property, and the like that can be affected by their reported results
it is naturally difficult for researchers to avoid
being influenced by their financial well-being in making research decisions
similarly while research funded by private industry increases research productivity and helps
facilitate the transfer of new technologies and scientific discoveries to real-world applications
this funding can also create relationships rife with conflicts of interest
for example in medical journal articles that he co-authored Dr. Jose Baselga, a leading oncologist
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center repeatedly failed to fully disclose the extensive
financial ties he had to pharma companies whose drugs he was testing
not surprisingly, more than once, Baselga was unjustifiably optimistic when reporting the results of his studies of drugs
that were being developed by Roche, a company that paid him healthy consulting fees and more
Baselga was convinced he had done nothing materially wrong but other scientists saw Baselga's failure
to fully disclose his research conflicts of interest as disturbing and disappointing
Sloan Kettering forced his resignation in 2018.
as an investigator even if you do manage to avoid being influenced
by your personal financial interests you must keep in mind that simply
the appearance of impropriety may undermine both your reputation and your University's reputation
for honest research
fortunately the appearance of bias caused by Financial or non-financial
interests can be mitigated by practicing full and fair disclosure nonetheless there may still be a
justifiable concern about potential bias caused by such conflicting interests
for example a study of 162 drug trials
found that if the researchers had conflicts of interest they were almost five times
as likely to report positive results as compared to studies done by unconflicted researchers
it's unlikely that many of these investigators were consciously biased but their self-interest
clearly impacted their conclusions
now you may firmly believe that you are unaffected
by conflicts of interest because the norms of scientific inquiry prevent you from doing anything
other than pursuing the truth but this common misperception is the overconfidence bias in action
research shows that most people erroneously assume themselves to be moral, competent, and
deserving and therefore invulnerable to conflicts of interest however there is
overwhelming empirical evidence that this is simply not the case
so how should you handle conflicts of interest
first, be alert to their existence do not stumble into conflicts unaware
second, as noted, full disclosure is critical
most universities, academic journals, and government funding agencies
require disclosure of financial and sometimes non-financial conflicts of interest
be careful to guard against moral licensing which is the tendency everyone has to give themselves
permission to be a little more self-serving in a certain situation if they've also acted ethically
in other words, researchers who have disclosed their financial interests may unconsciously
give themselves permission to act in a more self-serving manner than those researchers who
have not disclosed their financial conflicts
also be on the lookout for strategic exaggeration which
is the tendency of some researchers to overstate their actual findings in order to counteract any
discounting of their credibility that might result from their disclosure of conflicts
finally, commit to openness and transparency in communicating potential conflicts to research collaborators
and be diligent in using robust methods and strategies to reduce the potential for research bias
your University compliance office and sometimes a conflict of interest committee can help you comply
with legal and ethical rules regarding financial and other conflicts of interest
if conflicts are properly managed often you will not have to forfeit financial ties or other outside interests
the truth is that you are unlikely to totally avoid conflicts of interest in your research
they are normal and to be expected but you can disclose and manage these conflicts to
maintain integrity in your research and to protect your reputation and career