The Influence of Disclosure and Ethics Education on Perceptions of Financial Conflicts of Interest

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.

[1]  O. Ben-shahar,et al.  The Failure of Mandated Disclosure , 2010 .

[2]  Steven Joffe,et al.  A randomized study of how physicians interpret research funding disclosures. , 2012, The New England journal of medicine.

[3]  J. Kassirer,et al.  Financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research. , 1993, Annals of emergency medicine.

[4]  R. Wilson.  The Death of Jesse Gelsinger: New Evidence of the Influence of Money and Prestige in Human Research , 2010, American Journal of Law & Medicine.

[5]  Don A. Moore,et al.  When Sunlight Fails to Disinfect: Understanding the Perverse Effects of Disclosing Conflicts of Interest , 2011 .

[6]  Melissa S. Anderson,et al.  Scientists behaving badly , 2005, Nature.

[7]  E. Emanuel,et al.  Patients' views on financial conflicts of interest in cancer research trials. , 2006, The New England journal of medicine.

[8]  Responsibility of applicants for promoting objectivity in research for which public health service funding is sought and responsible prospective contractors. Final rule. , 2011, Federal register.

[9]  G. Loewenstein,et al.  The burden of disclosure: increased compliance with distrusted advice. , 2013, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  S. Vasconcelos,et al.  Addressing conflicts of interest in the research paper: a societal demand in contemporary science? , 2013, Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas.

[11]  J. Sax,et al.  Evaluation of academic scientists’ responses to situations that pose a conflict of interest , 2011, Cancer biology & therapy.

[12]  Stacy M Carter,et al.  Journal peer review in context: A qualitative study of the social and subjective dimensions of manuscript review in biomedical publishing. , 2011, Social science & medicine.

[13]  D. Rennie,et al.  Influences on the Quality of Published Drug Studies , 1996, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care.

[14]  M. Banaji,et al.  Bounded Ethicality as a Psychological Barrier to Recognizing Conflicts of Interest , 2005 .

[15]  J. Kassirer.  Financial Conflict of Interest: an Unresolved Ethical Frontier , 2001, American Journal of Law & Medicine.

[16]  P. Singer,et al.  The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics: Specialty bioethics , 2008 .

[17]  Bernard Lo,et al.  Perceptions of Conflict of Interest Disclosures among Peer Reviewers , 2011, PloS one.

[18]  B. Djulbegovic,et al.  Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review , 2003, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[19]  Sara Schroter,et al.  Does the type of competing interest statement affect readers' perceptions of the credibility of research? Randomised trial , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[20]  Don A. Moore,et al.  Conflict of interest and the intrusion of bias , 2010, Judgment and Decision Making.

[21]  Michael Kalichman,et al.  Rescuing Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Education , 2014, Accountability in research.

[22]  J. Loike,et al.  Lessons Learned from Undergraduate Students in Designing a Science-Based Course in Bioethics , 2013, CBE life sciences education.

[23]  Conflict of interest in peer-reviewed medical journals: the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) position on a challenging problem. , 2010, Neurosurgery.

[24]  Peter A Ubel,et al.  Failure to discount for conflict of interest when evaluating medical literature: a randomised trial of physicians , 2010, Journal of Medical Ethics.

[25]  S. Krimsky.  Do Financial Conflicts of Interest Bias Research? , 2013 .

[26]  Michael Hügler,et al.  Pathways of Carbon and Energy Metabolism of the Epibiotic Community Associated with the Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Shrimp Rimicaris exoculata , 2011, PloS one.

[27]  G. Loewenstein,et al.  The Limits of Transparency: Pitfalls and Potential of Disclosing Conflicts of Interest , 2011 .

[28]  Sunita Sah,et al.  The unintended consequences of conflict of interest disclosure. , 2012, JAMA.

[29]  Jason I Reminick,et al.  Funding of US Biomedical Research , 2011 .

[30]  T. Lemmens,et al.  Financial Conflict of Interest in Medical Research , 2007 .

[31]  Jeremy Spevick.  Financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research. , 2003, The virtual mentor : VM.

[32]  R. Fletcher,et al.  Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals: The World Association of Medical Editors Position on a Challenging Problem , 2010, Journal of young pharmacists : JYP.

[33]  K. Elliott.  Scientific Judgment and the Limits of Conflict-of-Interest Policies , 2008, Accountability in research.

[34]  Joel Lexchin,et al.  Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Biases the Outcomes of Clinical Trials of Medications , 2011, Science and Engineering Ethics.

[35]  J. Turrens.  Teaching research integrity and bioethics to science undergraduates. , 2005, Cell biology education.

[36]  D. Resnik,et al.  Taking Financial Relationships into Account When Assessing Research , 2013, Accountability in research.

[37]  Lisa A Bero,et al.  Conflicts of Interest in Academic Research: Policies, Processes, and Attitudes , 2004, Accountability in research.

[38]  S. Sismondo.  How Pharmaceutical Industry Funding Affects Trial Outcomes: Causal Structures and Responses , 2008, Social science & medicine.

[39]  C. Gross,et al.  Scope and impact of financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research: a systematic review. , 2003, JAMA.

[40]  J. Stockman.  Funding of US Biomedical Research, 2003-2008 , 2011 .

[41]  Don A. Moore,et al.  Self-Interest, Automaticity, and the Psychology of Conflict of Interest , 2004 .

[42]  C. Deangelis.  The influence of money on medical science. , 2006, JAMA.

[43]  D. Korn,et al.  Conflicts of interest in biomedical research. , 2000, JAMA.

[44]  J. Sax.  Financial Conflicts of Interest in Science , 2011, Annals of health law.