Managing COIs

Disclosing / declaring the conflict

• The first step to managing COIs is to declare them as soon as you become aware about them.
• You should declare COIs to:
  • Your research team, so that you can work together to find effective coping strategies.
  • The ethics committee, who can provide the necessary monitoring.
  • Your research subjects, if you have important COIs that may affect their willingness to participate in your study.
  • The public, when you publish your results.

Eliminating the conflict

For example:

• Stop investing in a company that may have financial gains through your study
• Delegating research tasks to those without a COI

Minimising the potential impact of the conflict

For example:

• Employing two people to perform data entry so that they can cross-check
• Using double blinding and randomisation to reduce potential biases

Monitoring the conflict

This could be in the form of:

• Self-monitoring within the team
  • For example, ensuring that all team members know the research protocol clearly so that any violation of the protocol can be identified quickly.
• External monitoring
  • For example, through inspections by the ethics committee and regulatory authorities.