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Financial conflicts of interest in science

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Abstract

This Article proposes a new direction for addressing financial conflicts of interest, which plague biomedical research and threaten scientific integrity. This Article descriptively states the controversy surrounding financial conflicts of interest by explaining how these conflicts arise and the damage that can be created as a result. By describing the scientific process, the Article explains that changes to the academic environment may allow the public-private interaction to proceed, without creating the problems associated with financial conflicts of interest. Financial conflicts of interest are created when the profit-seeking motive of a private funding source unduly influences an academic scientist's primary responsibilities. The problem with financial conflicts of interest has grown since the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980. The cornerstone of current policies to address financial conflicts of interest is disclosure, which is inadequate and unsatisfying. The analysis herein changes the trajectory of current approaches in this area by proposing that an analysis of the underlying environment and behavior leading to conflicts of interest must be considered. This Article proposes the use of behavioral economics to craft a policy that effectively addresses conflicts of interest. To this end, this Article applies research from the field of psychology to understand both the environment of academic scientists as well as to begin to understand how academic scientists make decisions. Drawing on psychology literature, this article proposes that academic scientists may experience cognitive dissonance when faced with a situation in which a conflict of interest may arise. This helps to understand why an academic scientist may make a decision that creates a conflict of interest. In addition, this Article utilizes the results of an empirical study conducted by myself and a colleague. In this study, we asked faculty at five medical schools to respond to an anonymous survey containing hypothetical situations in which a conflict may arise. The combination of the psychology literature and our empirical study can provide support to the creation of new policies. Policy proposals include implementation of default rules, education, and changes to academic requirements. Furthermore, this Article considers ways to incentivize medical centers to implement effective policies as well as changes to intellectual property law.

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... No conflito de interesse, os interesses privados ou particulares de uma pessoa (o autor neste caso) interferem no direcionamento da pesquisa ou na redação do documento final, inclinando-o a favor de alguma pessoa ou instituição 23,24 . Em pesquisa ou em clínica, a expressão é usada nos contextos em que o julgamento profissional foi influenciado por um interesse primário. ...
... A presença de conflitos de interesse, no entanto, não desqualifica a integridade de um pesquisador ou o valor científico de seu trabalho. É importante analisar como são tratados os benefícios para que o interesse primário não se veja afetado pelo secundário 15,23,24 . ...
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Resumen Definir la autoría en artículos y documentos científicos es un proceso esencial y complejo, que encierra subjetividad y depende de convenios establecidos en general de palabra, lo que puede ocasionar conflictos entre los investigadores. Se han publicado algunas guías con lineamientos generales para mejorar esta práctica, sin embargo son pocos los procedimientos cuantitativos para precisar autoría y coautoría de un escrito científico, y no hay consenso para definir los autores y el orden en que deben aparecer. Con este artículo intentamos rescatar algunos criterios y consideraciones para determinar el listado de autores en textos científicos.
... However, legislative actions over the past few decades, beginning with the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, have spurred commercial funding of academic research, leading to increased concerns over financial conflicts of interest. Bayh-Dole allows universities and principal investigators (PIs) to patent new technologies developed from government-sponsored research (Sax 2012). Initiatives from government funding agencies and non-profit entities that encourage matching private financial support also have led to increased ties between academic researchers and for-profit commercial entities (Lemmens and Luther 2008). ...
... Thus, the present study fills an important gap in the literature on financial conflicts of interest. Previous research on how ordinary citizens view professionals' FCOI disclosures have involved generic advisor/evaluator contexts, financial transactions, or patient/physician relationships (Ben-Shahar and Schneider 2011;Sax 2012). In the study reported here, however, lay individuals were asked to examine hypothetical research scenarios in which academic scientists had FCOIs and to evaluate them in light of the presence or absence of FCOI disclosure. ...
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This study explored how disclosure of financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) influences naïve or "lay" individuals' perceptions of the ethicality of researcher conduct. On a between-subjects basis, participants read ten scenarios in which researchers disclosed or failed to disclose relevant financial conflicts of interest. Participants evaluated the extent to which each vignette represented a FCOI, its possible influence on researcher objectivity, and the ethics of the financial relationship. Participants were then asked if they had completed a college-level ethics course. Results indicated that FCOI disclosure significantly influenced participants' perceptions of the ethicality of the situation, but only marginally affected perceptions of researcher objectivity and had no significant influence on perceptions of the existence of FCOIs. Participants who had previously completed a college-level ethics course appeared more sensitive to the importance of FCOI disclosure than those who lacked such background. This result suggests that formal ethical training may help individuals become more critical consumers of scientific research.
... En este contexto, es necesario destacar que aunque los dos tipos de CI secundario antes mencionados (el de origen nanciero y el de origen académico) deben ser considerados seriamente, el segundo es frecuentemente mejor controlado durante el proceso cientí co y en el marco de las políticas institucionales 4 . ...
... La piedra fundamental de las políticas actuales tendientes a controlar el CI es su declaración o reconocimiento. Sin embargo, estas políticas claramente no son del todo efectivas y no tienen en consideración factores tan importantes como el conocimiento en detalle del proceso de investigación biomédica, ni los distintos escenarios en los que se encuentran los académicos que llevan a cabo tareas de investigación básica respecto de los que realizan investigación clínica 4 . A este respecto, Groeger postula que la integridad de la investigación cientí ca depende del desarrollo de un sistema que permita identi car, minimizar y manejar los CI, sin que esto signi que coartar la curiosidad cientí ca o interferir con las recompensas económicas y personales relacionadas con su trabajo 2 . ...
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... [48][49][50][51][52][53] En todas las actividades medicas es importante establecer políticas que reduzcan la influencia de los intereses secundarios, comuniquen con claridad el vínculo financiero con la industria, prohíban la aceptación de regalos o invitaciones y busquen alternativas a la financiación de las actividades de educación médica continua por parte de la industria, 54,55 pues el cuidado que se tenga en el establecimiento de políticas para el conflicto de intereses contribuye a que se mantenga la confianza en los académicos. 56 P u b l i c a c i ó n a n t i c i p a d a . ...
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Introduction: Physicians' main responsibility is to practice medicine for the benefit of patients. However, there are situations where secondary interests affect this commitment and give rise to conflicts of interest. Objective: To analyze currently available systematic reviews and meta-analyses on conflicts of interest in medicine to summarize relevant evidence in this regard. Material and methods: A literature search was performed in the MEDLINE and LILACS databases using the following search strategy: systematic reviews and meta-analysis on conflicts of interests in medicine published in serialized scientific journals; no publication time or language limits were applied. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were grouped according to the medical activity they assessed, and information on the type and number of studies and conclusions of all publications included in the review was collected. Results: 29 publications were included, and they were classified as follows: studies based on research articles, on clinical practice guidelines, on clinical practice, and on patient-oriented papers. Conclusions: It was found that the authors of the original research papers included in the meta analyses and systematic reviews analyzed here do not always state if they have conflicts of interest or not. Nevertheless, when said conflicts are reported, they tend to present results favoring the drugs or medical technologies of their sponsor.
... We encourage our reviewers and editors to recuse themselves when they perceive a conflict or competing interest. The substantiation of the manuscript and its importance to research drives our publishing decisions, which are then constrained by prevailing legal requirements 11,12 libel, copyright infringement, plagiarism and fraud [16][17][18][19] . ...
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