Declaration of conflicts of interest

Dear Editor:

Your recent editorial on conflicts of interest and scientific publications was very interesting. I would like to share an idea regarding the statement “A declaration of relationships should be required in the communication of research, but its existence should not prejudge inappropriate conduct”.¹ Essentially, publishing conflict of interest statements is common practice for all journals. The problem resides in how to verify authors’ declarations. Generally speaking, those involved in the journal assume that the information provided is true, and the issue therefore arises in cases where statements are incomplete. I completely agree that other types of misconduct may exist, and that other issues related to conflict of interest may also come up. Despite complicated declaration forms, it is impossible to prevent authors from hiding their conflicts. How then can the problem be solved? Firstly, an additional system for detecting conflicts of interest must be in place, such as using an online tool to search for potential conflicts of interest related to the author (for example, mentioning specific products, working as a consultant, etc.). Secondly, providing referees with some information about the author may be useful for identifying possible conflicts of interest. Some may argue that this practice could create reviewer bias and affect the decision-making process for the document submitted. However, this step could be taken after the article has been accepted, for the purpose of checking for undeclared conflicts of interest. Lastly, the process used to check for undeclared conflicts of interest should be comparable to processes for detecting other types of inappropriate conduct, such as plagiarism.