A Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy for Science and Engineering Ethics

In June 2007 a number of scientific and medical journal editors gathered to discuss the possibility of developing a common standard with regard to the disclosure of conflicts of interest . The meeting was a response to the widespread concern among members of the research community, policy makers, and the general public that failure to disclose conflicts of interest in research publications reflected in large measure inconsistencies among journals in the definition of a conflict of interest as well as in disclosure policies themselves. It is expected that one product of this discussion will be continued efforts to develop a shared standard of conflict of interest and a common disclosure policy. For this reason, we are revisiting this topic, although under various guises conflicting and competing interests and inappropriate bias have been the focus of previous editorials as well as articles in Science and Engineering Ethics (e.g. [1–5, 7–10]). The fundamental concern within and beyond the research community that is implied by the label ‘conflict of interest’ is that inappropriate factors may be allowed to influence research design, the collection, selection, analysis, or interpretation of data, and/or the presentation or dissemination of research results. This concern is rooted in the expectations of others, including (but not limited to) collaborators, competitors, other members of the research community, policy makers, and the public. If a competing interest is allowed to bias any element of the