Financial Conflicts of Interest, Disclosure, and Academic Discipline

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2016

Department

Philosophy and Religion

School

Humanities

Abstract

Peer assessments of researchers’ financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs) are crucial to effective FCOI management. We sought to determine how academics perceive FCOI disclosure and whether their perceptions vary depending on discipline and educational backgrounds. Participants (faculty and staff members from a multi-disciplinary academic medical center) responded to a questionnaire involving 10 hypothetical scenarios in which researchers either disclosed or failed to disclose a financial conflict (between-participants manipulation). Participants viewed disclosure as important and believed that researchers’ objectivity would be affected by undisclosed FCOIs. In contrast to non-physicians, physicians showed greater recognition that the existence of an FCOI does not depend on its disclosure. This suggests that physicians are relatively well informed about FCOIs, which is likely attributable to more education about them.

Publication Title

Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics

Volume

11

Issue

2

First Page

165

Last Page

169

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