Conflict of Interest: What it Means for Research

What is a conflict of interest?

A conflict of interest (COI) occurs when a researcher’s personal, financial, or professional relationships could compromise, or even just appear to compromise, their objectivity in conducting or reporting research.

In most cases, conflicts of interest are not intentional. Often, they arise naturally from situations such as:

• Holding equity or stock in a company that funds your research
• Receiving consulting fees or honoraria from a sponsor
  Having close family members involved in a study and benefiting from its outcomes
• Accepting gifts or funding that could influence the study or the data from the study
  

Conflicts of interest like these may even be unknown before the start of a research cycle. However, even the appearance of a conflict of interest can raise questions about the validity of a research project and jeopardize its success. 

It’s always best to be as upfront as possible, as early as possible, by clearly disclosing all definite and potential conflicts of interest before the research gets underway. 

Why COI disclosures matter

Failure to disclose conflicts of interest can lead to negative outcomes even when the conflict is completely unintentional or deemed too minor to mention. Examples of common negative outcomes include: 

• Mistrust of the research team and their relationship to the outcomes, which can, in turn, undermine the results’ credibility
• Regulatory violations that can put funding at risk and result in substantial fines
• The possibility of long-term reputational damage to individual researchers, the research team, and the institution itself

While the consequences for unreported COI can be severe, there are many ways that researchers can efficiently and transparently disclose their known and potential conflicts of interest. Like many aspects of modern life, software can help organize and report COI for more transparency and faster disclosures without the need for manual reminders or cumbersome paper files.

This kind of effective, digital COI management and disclosure can assure organizations, leadership, and funders that research outcomes will be represented fairly and maintain compliance with key regulators.

Conflicts of interest across the research lifecycle

Conflict of interest management and disclosure isn’t limited to a single point in the research lifecycle. Instead, it’s an ongoing effort that touches several stages of the process:

• Proposal development: COI disclosures are often required when submitting a proposal to sponsors or Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
• Pre-award: COI reviews are necessary for compliance with regulations that adhere to federal, institutional, and private sponsor policies before funds are released and research can start
• Post-award: Annual updates or changes in potential conflicts of interest must be managed during active research; this means that all possible conflicts of interest that arise while research is underway must be promptly disclosed
• Publication and reporting: Transparency about personal interests reinforces credibility when sharing findings, keeping reputations and integrity intact

Continuous conflict of interest management at every stage of a research project is essential for the project’s success. Many institutions have software solutions and processes in place to ensure that checkpoints for each stage of the research lifecycle are built into the compliance review process from the start. 

Using conflict of interest software to stay compliant

With evolving regulations around conflicts of interest and the increasing visibility of research funds and outcomes, institutions must balance the administrative load of disclosing and managing conflicts of interest and ensuring that they’ve established reliable COI systems and processes.

While many teams still use manual or paper-based workflows, which can be inaccurate and frustrating to manage, a software solution can employ automated checks and notifications built for each stage of the research lifecycle.

Conflict of interest management software like Cayuse Outside Interests helps institutions easily maintain their COI documentation while supporting transparency and reducing administrative burden. Visit our Outside Interests page to learn more about how Cayuse can help support your institution and manage COI.