View source for Theme:B962d39b-ee34-4562-951c-5193700beff6

{{Theme
|Theme Type=Misconduct & Misbehaviors
|Has Parent Theme=Theme:48185295-9e1e-41fb-ab70-948596e588d5
|Title=Funding (Sponsorship) bias
|Is About=When researchers distort the results or modify conclusions of their study due to pressure of commercial or not-for-profit funders of the study, they engage in questionable research practice. This is called funding or sponsorship bias, but it is also known as “funding effect.”
|Important Because=The term “funding effect” was formed in the 1980s, when it was discovered that researchers do not always report their results and conclusions honestly, but distort the findings to support the aims of the funding sources.<ref name=":0">Krimsky S. Do Financial Conflicts of Interest Bias Research? An Inquiry into the “Funding Effect” Hypothesis. ST&HV. 2012; 38(4):566-587. </ref>  It has also shown that industry sponsored studies are more likely to publish positive results than those sponsored by not-for-profit and independent organisations.<ref name=":0" /> One of the reasons is that funders may prevent publishing of the manuscript containing unfavourable results or even take some legal acts against researchers.<ref>Rodrigues V. Publication and reporting biases and how they impact publication of research. editage insights. 2013 Oct 29. [cited 2021 Sept 27]. Available from: https://www.editage.com/insights/publication-and-reporting-biases-and-how-they-impact-publication-of-research. </ref> For example, in one case a sponsor sued a haematologist for breach of contract because she reported “concerns over the safety of a drug she was evaluating”.<ref>Chopra SS. Industry Funding of Clinica Trials: Benefit or Bias? JAMA. 2003;290(1):113-114. </ref>

This distortion of reporting of the study results and conclusions occurs more often in studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry.<ref name=":0" /> This can cause serious consequences because it directly affects the practice of medicine.<ref>Lexchin J, Bero LA, Djulbegovic B, Clark O. Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review. BMJ. 2003;326(7400):1167-1170. </ref> Nevertheless, every researcher with a funded study could be pressured to report results and conclusions that are more favourable to the funders, regardless of the topic or research area of the study.
|Important For=Researchers; Research institutions; PhD students; Peer reviewers; Journal editors; Publishers; Funding agencies
|Has Best Practice=To prevent funding bias, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requires that research articles have Disclosure Form containing: 

“-sources of support for the work, including sponsor names along with explanations of the role of those sources if any in study design; 

-collecting, analysis, and interpretation of data; 

-writing of the report; 

-any restrictions regarding submission of the report for publication; 

-or a statement declaring that the supporting source had no such involvement or restrictions regarding publication.”<ref name=":0">Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Updated December 2019. [cited 2021 Sept 27]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. </ref> 

In addition to that, editors may request that authors also sign a statement, such as: “I had full access to all of the data in this study and I take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis”.<ref name=":0" /> 

Some investigators have even proposed that academic studies funded by industry should continue only if academic medical centres would be solely responsible for the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of clinical trials. Others have recommended that conflict-of-interest committees should be created at academic institutions to monitor the finances.<ref>Chopra SS. Industry Funding of Clinica Trials: Benefit or Bias? JAMA. 2003;290(1):113-114. </ref>
}}
{{Related To
|Related To Resource=Resource:19344715-932f-4599-b6db-cef280258d52;Resource:76a5fddb-924e-48ba-a5d5-9b318bf8e477
|Related To Theme=Theme:88b73549-fec0-4fb9-99f6-fe1055d6b76a;Theme:24e87492-7020-4fc0-ab37-dd88bcf9f637;Theme:7df709ce-fb89-4703-966f-b33e68b83ad5;Theme:E0384a98-fbfd-4df9-9caa-3fe4afa95951
}}
{{Tags
|Has Virtue And Value=Honesty; Transparency
|Has Good Practice And Misconduct=Conflict of Interest
}}