Reporting Conflicts of Interest, Financial Aspects of Research, and Role of Sponsors in Funded Studies

Research studies in biomedical journals are increasingly scrutinized, not only for their scientific findings and clinical and public health implications, but also because of concerns related to conflicts of interest of investigators¹ and concerns about misleading reporting of industry-sponsored research.² The perception that conflicts of interest or financial concerns may have potentially detrimental effects on medical science has prompted medical journals to critically examine and more vigorously enforce policies for disclosure of potential conflicts and for reporting of relationships with industry.³