Responsible Authorship - Dilemmas

Conflict of Interest

Conflict of interest (COI) issues highlight the potential for authors to compromise research integrity and bias how research is conducted, from deciding what research questions to pursue, to determine how data should be analyzed and interpreted (Goozner, 2004). Editors, reviewers, and ultimately readers are better served if they can assess the objectivity, validity, and credibility of research authors. Many research journals have established policies on authors disclosing a COI.