7.0 of this article can be downloaded to your hard drive. To answer questions, investigators undertake research studies, based on sound research designs and appropriate data analyses, to produce unbiased results in which readers can have confidence. On the surface, this seems to be a pretty straightforward process. However, it is not always that simple.
People expect they can bank on what the researcher reports.
Researchers can have interests, which may influence or may be perceived to influence their reporting. It is common. Having a financial interest in the company whose product you are evaluating or receiving funding from the company whose product you are evaluating are the most frequently cited examples of conflict of interest. In the past, clinical researchers and industry were separate, but the two have become increasingly intertwined over the recent years. The need for research funding and the Technology Transfer Act are among some of the reasons.