conflicts of interest and biases
Conflicts of interest arise in very different contexts in medicine. They are defined as “situations that create a risk that professional judgment or action related to a primary interest will be inappropriately influenced by a secondary interest” (Thompson (1993) cited in MFT (2022), p.2).
The fact that such conflicts of interest - or situations that are interpreted as such by third parties - occur is also unavoidable in medical research. However, according to good scientific practice, it is essential to deal with them transparently, especially when presenting research results. Similarly, bias must be dealt with transparently in review processes or committee work. There is generally no de minimis limit - e.g. in the form of a minimum fee - for the existence of a conflict of interest. Accordingly, relationships with industry representatives in particular should be disclosed as fully as possible. Only in this way is it possible for third parties to assess the respective relevance.
Voluntary disclosure of potential conflicts of interest usually relates to the past three years and the current year. You are welcome to use the slide template provided here as a guide to which relationships should be listed. Further information and recommendations can also be found in the MFT position paper (see in particular the annexes).
Of course, there are special requirements for dealing with conflicts of interest when working on guidelines or organizing scientific training courses. Detailed statements on this can be found on the AMWF website.
A list of criteria for bias used by the DFG (divided into exclusion and individual case decision criteria) can be found here.
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