Scientists Don't Disclose Conflicts of Interest

Less than one percent of the 60,000 articles published during 1997 in 181 peer-reviewed science and medical journals with conflict of interest policies contained any disclosure of the authors' personal financial interests, according to a study by professors Sheldon Krimsky and L.S. Rosenberg which was published in the April 2001 issue of Science and Engineering Ethics. "Growth in university-industry collaborations has intensified the conflicts of interest among academic researchers and weakened public trust in science," Krimsky observed.