PrintPart 4 - Conflicts of Interest (COIs)
A conflict of interest can arise when there are competing interests in a particular project or line of research that hinder the capacity for clear judgment and unbiased analysis. We want to avoid conflicts of interest to avoid social favoritism (cronyism and nepotism), the preference of familiar people and things (the mere-exposure effect), favoritism towards funding sources (funding outcome biases), bias in review of other projects based on competing interests, self-favoritism (egotism), internal review (self-policing), etc. Bribery, described in further detail below, presents an immediate conflict of interest.