A Conflict of Interest is a situation in which the person or the organisation is involved in multiple interests, one of which could compromise the motivation of the individual or the organisation. Conflict of Interest is intrinsic to researcher’s enterprise. A conflict of interest involves the abuse (actual, apparent, or potential) of the trust that people have in professionals. Conflict of interest not only can lead to injury or harm to particular study participants but, on a wider scale, a conflict of interest can damage an entire research enterprise by reducing the trust and confidence that people generally have in research. The definition of Conflict of interest which is widely used is “A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances that …show more content…
Conflict of interest can cause at the academic level as well as the individual level which must be addresses. There are many potential sources of conflict of interest which are intrinsic to institution and which emanate from the individual level. There are many causes of conflict of interest which includes,
1. Donations or gifts from Commercial sponsors.
Commercial sponsors provides significant gifts to the University or to any of its departments, colleges, research institutes, etc. which raises the question about the influence of the company on the University’s research programs and how they are managed. Some concerns also arise when the commercial sponsor or the industries, sponsors research or provide significant consulting income to a number of faculty members within a single department. Problem may be posed if a sponsor gifts or promises gifts in exchange for favourable terms on a technology license or any other
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Some situations should be anticipated which may be perceived as compromising the research and fiduciary integrity.
9. Over dependence on a particular company for research funding should be avoided which indeed may result in stoppage of the interference of the company (either formally or informally) in influencing the direction of the research or dissemination of the results.
There are number of sources of academic conflict of interest which must be addressed so that we can avoid undermining the credibility of our scientific research and we can also ensure that the highest standards of ethical conduct of research are sustained.
CONCLUSION
It will be a great challenge to come up with new strategies to minimize, manage, or eliminate the conflict of interest. “The conflict of interest created by the academic industrial relationship is real, consequential, but tolerable so long as they managed their risks while preserving the benefits that flow from the arrangements.” Conflict of interest should be managed by adopting, implementing, and making public conflict of interest policies. It is clear that there will be some conflict of interest in every academic institution, but it should be suppressed or minimized. For this purpose, Committees and institutional review boards should be developed by the academic institution to monitor any conflict of interest in the organisation. “The fiduciary obligations of the faculty and universities towards their students and fellows are nearly