Promoting Education Regarding Conflict of Interest Management

ABSTRACT

Even among highly educated health professionals, there is inconsistency in the knowledge and perception concerning both conflict of interest (COI) itself and COI disclosure. The key issue is the credibility of the manuscript, which relies heavily on transparency of COI for the reader. The tendency to disregard the importance of COI disclosure among journal editors has been recently highlighted. For all types of COI, the primary question is how it is managed. To ensure the enforcement of the declared journal COI policies, it is crucial that not only authors, but also those who are involved in the assessment of manuscripts, be educated and informed of the updated guidelines concerning COI disclosure.