Conflicts of interest in academic publishing

Conflicts of interest undermine the reliability of some academic journal articles cited on Wikipedia. The Sponsored Point of View panel discusses this problem in 2012

Conflicts of interest (COIs) often arise in academic publishing.[1] Such conflicts may cause wrongdoing and make it more likely. Ethical standards in academic publishing exist to avoid and deal with conflicts of interest, and the field continues to develop new standards. Standards vary between journals and are unevenly applied. According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, "[a]uthors have a responsibility to evaluate the integrity, history, practices and reputation of the journals to which they submit manuscripts".[2]

Conflicts of interest increase the likelihood of biases arising; they can harm the quality of research and the public good (even if disclosed).[3] Conflicts of interest can involve research sponsors, authors, journals, journal staff, publishers, and peer reviewers.

  1. ^ Dal-Ré, Rafael; Caplan, Arthur L; Marusic, Ana (2019-07-23). "Editors' and authors' individual conflicts of interest disclosure and journal transparency. A cross-sectional study of high-impact medical specialty journals". BMJ Open. 9 (7): e029796. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029796. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 6661703. PMID 31340971.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ICMJE_recommendations_2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference registries_RIPR_2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).