Open access publisher BioMed Central, UK, has announced that its journal Trials recently polled 844 researchers based in Canada about their experiences of conflicts, finding that 269 had personally experienced or witnessed such an event. Financial conflicts of interest are seen to be common in research, and procedures intended to reduce their impact are poorly adhered to, according to the Trials report.
Paula Rochon, vice-president, Senior Scientist at Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Canada, worked with a team of researchers to carry out the e-mail survey. Of 1,109 eligible investigators at Canadian sites, 844 responded. According to Rochon, 236 of these had witnessed a financial conflict of interest situation, and 76 percent of these were related to industry-funded trials. The most frequently described situations related to recruitment pressures.
Adherence to preferred practices was generally poor, with less than half of the respondents reporting full compliance, but was at its highest when they were required by an external agent. Speaking about the results, Rochon claimed the study was the first to obtain information directly from investigators about practices related to financial conflicts. Guidance introduced early in the design of the trial could introduce changes regarding trail preparation, conduct and dissemination that would reduce potential effects of investigator financial conflicts of interest, it was observed.
Trials is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that seeks to cover all aspects of the performance and findings of randomised controlled trials.
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