Researchers from the University of Sydney have called for “more transparency” after their review has revealed that nearly half of 120 pharmaceutical trials had missing or omitted declarations of conflict of interest (COI). “Disclosures are crucial to keeping research transparent,” said co-author Assoc. Prof. Barbara Mintzes from the University of Sydney. Conflicts of interest in research refer to situations when the author’s judgement may be compromised or appear to be so due to financial or personal reasons. Funding from pharmaceutical companies often require disclosure of conflict as “pharmaceutical industry funding is associated with a bias towards study results that are more favourable towards the tested product,” Mintzes said. She said that the importance of full disclosure of pharmaceutical industry funding has long been recognised, and it was a requirement for authors to report on it. Though a disclosure does not eliminate conflicts of interests such as biased reporting, Mintzes  said …