Scientific capitalism

["Michael Keaney" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Science journal seeks authors'
disclosure

Financial Times, Aug 24, 2001
By GAUTAM MALKANI

Nature, the scientific journal, is to urge its authors to disclose any
financial interests related to their
studies in response to growing concerns over increasing links between
industry and science.

The move is the latest to address potential conflicts of interest within
the scientific community and
Nature said it was particularly keen to promote transparency in research
affecting public policy.

Philip Campbell, Nature's editor-in-chief, said the new policy was not
based on the assumption that
commercial interests led to a lack of research integrity, but said it
would promote stronger foundations
for public trust.

"If financial interests are disclosed, readers will be able to make an
informed judgment about their
significance or lack of significance," he said. "But we are not changing
the way we assess our papers
and we are not saying science is undermined by industrial funding."

Nature publishes a broad range of scientific studies and its new policy
echoes those of specialised
medical journals such as The Lancet and British Medical Journal - both
of which have long required
authors to disclose financial interests.

"This a pervasive problem in medical research and it's now creeping into
basic science," said Richard
Horton, editor of The Lancet.

Pharmaceutical companies have traditionally sponsored trials of new
drugs but in recent years there
have been growing concerns that the close relationship between industry
and scientists could
compromise the independence of the latter.

Funding concerns have also been fuelled by recent political disputes
over issues such as genetically
modified crops and potential health risks associated with mobile
telephony.

In May the US General Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog, published
a report identifying
"concerns about the objectivity of industry-funded research" and
encouraged greater involvement by
federal bodies, such as the Food and Drug Administration.

Nature will not require authors to declare their financial interests,
but where they decline their decision
will be published.

Full article at:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?print=true&id=01
0824001626

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx