CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS: COULD A ‘TRAFFIC LIGHT’ SYSTEM WORK?

Abstract

Comments on an article by Merrill Goozner et al. (see record [rid]2009-18843-002[/rid]). Bias is endemic in research and is not always a bad thing. I am consciously biased by my value system and funder to choose topics to research that I think will lead to a reduction in tobacco use. I hope we can all agree that it will be impossible, and not always desirable, to remove bias; neither will it be practicable to document with every grant application, review committee membership, editorial role or written output the full panoply of potential sources of bias arising out of conflicts of interest conceived in broad terms. The‘common standard’ document has many useful features and the goal of a single commonset of principles is desirable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)