生物医学科技论文存在的利益冲突问题及其应对措施

Conflict of interest in biomedical scientific papers and their countermeasures

【目的】探讨生物医学科技论文存在的主要利益冲突(Conflict of Interest,COI)问题及其应对措施。【方法】通过检索Retraction Watch数据库,收集2016—2021年生物医学期刊中因COI相关问题被撤销、更正或关注的95篇论文为研究对象。回顾性调查论文及其处理(撤稿、更正或关注)声明的主要特征、存在的COI问题及处理措施。【结果】本研究纳入的95篇论文中,72篇被撤销,23篇被更正或关注。论文存在的主要COI问题包括COI披露不完整(46.3%)、确实存在COI(18.9%)、对已披露COI的完整性存在质疑(12.6%)、潜在的COI披露不完整(12.6%)、COI披露错误(5.3%)等;具体COI表现为作者与企业(42.1%)、其他研究者(9.7%)、其他作者(7.0%)、研究机构(6.1%),以及期刊编辑或审稿人(5.3%)等之间存在的潜在COI或COI。【结论】生物医学期刊论文发表过程中存在多种COI问题,并且表现形式多样。建立并完善COI相关编辑政策,可预防COI相关问题的发生,从而减少发表偏倚。

[Purposes]This paper is to explore the main conflicts of interest(COI)in biomedical scientific papers and their countermeasures.[Methods]Through searching the Retraction Watch database,a total of 95 papers in biomedical journals which were retracted,corrected,or concerned because of COI-related issues from 2016 to 2021 were selected as study subjects.The main features of the papers and their handling(retraction,correction,or concern)statements,as well as existing COI issues and handling measures were retrospectively analyzed.[Findings]Of the 95 papers included in this study,72 papers are retracted and 23 papers are corrected or concerned.The main COI problems in these papers include incomplete COI disclosure(46.3%),existence of COI(18.9%),doubts about completeness of disclosed COI(12.6%),potential COI incomplete disclosure(12.6%),and COI disclosure errors(5.3%).Specific COI performances include potential COI or COI between authors and companies(42.1%),other researchers(9.7%),other authors(7.0%),research institutions(6.1%),and journal editors or reviewers(5.3%).[Conclusions]During publication of medical papers,there are many COI problems,and the manifestations are various.Establishing and improving COI-related editing policies can reduce the occurrence of COI-related problems and publication bias.