Great question ...

The conflict of interest seems easier to be solved when people or organizations involved maintain pro-active position. When any of the parties shows diffuse interests, everything gets harder.

This comment may seem obvious, but if involved in conflicts of interest worked to make everything more clear, the problems would be solved more easily. I say this from experience!

Great question ...

The conflict of interest seems easier to be solved when people or organizations involved maintain pro-active position. When any of the parties shows diffuse interests, everything gets harder.

This comment may seem obvious, but if involved in conflicts of interest worked to make everything more clear, the problems would be solved more easily. I say this from experience!

@Ziad, here is the list of primers for conflict of interest, file attached!

In my country The Agency for Prevention of Conflict of Interests exists!

@Ljubomir - Thanks for sharing this informative file.

Conflict of Interest Policy is often integrated in University Bylaws.

Also, several scientific journals and conferences have added sections to be filled by the author pertaining to COIs.

They are also carried as part of an interview for key positions in universities.

Thanks Alexander for sharing your experience!

If I meet and talk to people I don't see/verify their status, education level, profession etc...

Conflict of Interest is a term used to define a situation in which a person has a private or personal interest sufficient to appear to influence the objective exercise of his or her official duties as, say, a public official, an employee, or a professional. In certain relationships, individuals or the general public place their trust and confidence in someone to act in their best interests. When an individual has the responsibility to represent another person—whether as administrator, attorney, executor, government official, or trustee—a clash between professional obligations and personal interests arises if the individual tries to perform that duty while at the same time trying to achieve personal gain.

In other words, is a situation in which a person has a duty to more than one person or organization, but cannot do justice to the actual or words, is adverse interests of both parties. This includes when an individual's personal interests or concerns are inconsistent with the best for a customer, or when a public official's personal interests are contrary to his/her loyalty to public business. A conflict of interest involves the abuse -- actual, apparent, or potential -- of the trust that people have in the professionals.

Conflicts of interest are broadly divided into two categories: intangible, i.e., those involving academic activities and scholarship; and tangible, i.e., those involving financial relationships.

To avoid common misunderstandings of the concept that can lead to misplaced and ultimately ineffective or counterproductive policies, it is important to stress the importance of each of the three main elements of a conflict of interest: the primary interest, the secondary interest, and the conflict itself.

The primary interest that conflict of interest policies seek to protect varies according to the purpose of a professional activity. Primary interests include promoting and protecting the integrity of research and the quality of education. The researchers accept the primacy of these interests when they act in their professional roles. Researchers exercise judgment and discretion in their work. The public, research participants, students, and fellows need to trust researchers to act and make judgments in ways that are consistent with these primary interests. These primary interests are sometimes stated as ends or goals, as obligations, or as rights. Whatever the primary interests are, the point of regulating conflicts of interest is to try to ensure that secondary interests do not subvert the researchers’ decisions and actions regarding those primary interests and do not undermine trust in their scientific judgment. To be sure, identification of the exact primary interest in specific situations may sometimes be challenging, and primary interests sometimes conflict with each other. It is almost always clear that a primary interest should take precedence over a secondary interest.

The second main element of a conflict of interest is the secondary interest. Secondary interests may include not only financial gain, but also the desire for professional advancement, recognition for personal achievement, and favors to friends and family or to students and colleagues. Conflict of interest policies typically and reasonably focus on financial gain and financial relationships. The reason is not that financial gains are necessarily more corrupting than the other interests, but that they are relatively more objective, fungible, and quantifiable. A financial interest, therefore tends to be more effectively and fairly regulated than other secondary interests. Furthermore, for-profit companies exert influence primarily through their financial relationships with researchers. They cannot bestow professional rewards such as prestigious scientific prizes that may also lead to conflicts of interest.

Most secondary interests, including financial interests, are—within limits—legitimate and even desirable goals. The secondary interests are objectionable only when they have greater weight than the primary interest in professional decision making. For example, for a researcher or a teacher, financial interests should be subordinate to presenting scientific evidence in an unbiased manner in publications and presentations.

A financial interest does not have to be great for the influence to be undue. Indeed, social science research suggests that gifts of small value may influence decisions. It also suggests that the influence may operate without an individual being conscious of it. When a secondary interest has inappropriate weight in a decision and distorts the pursuit of a primary interest, it is exerting undue influence.

The third key element of the definition is the conflict itself. It is not an occurrence in which primary interests are necessarily compromised but, rather, a set of circumstances or relationships that create or increase the risk that the primary interests will be neglected as a result of the pursuit of secondary interests. A conflict of interest exists whether or not a particular individual or institution is actually influenced by the secondary interest. The claim that a conflict of interest exists is based on common experience and social science research. Both experience and research indicate that under certain conditions there is a risk that professional judgment may be influenced more by secondary interests than by primary interests.

Some of these elements of a conflict of interest refer to degrees or quantities (e.g., more or less influence), but they are not directly quantifiable. What counts as undue is a matter of judgment and depends on the context. It is not a numerical probability, but a judgment in a particular situation about whether a risk is undue or inappropriate. The standards for making such a judgment should be transparent and clearly specified in actual policies rather than in vague statements that professionals should avoid “undue influence.”

Conflicts of interest should be distinguished from other closely related conflicts. Not all conflicts in education are conflicts between a primary and a secondary interest. A conflict of obligation arises when an individual or institution has duties that require different actions, but only one of these actions can be taken in the given circumstance. Dilemmas in education, ethics often take this form, that is, the need to make hard choices between two values, neither one of which is clearly superior to the other.

Conflicts of commitment are closer to conflicts of interest. They often involve a conflict between what institutions view as the employees’ primary responsibilities of the institution and the employees’ outside commitments, such as voluntary community service, participation in teaching or conducting research for another institution. Like conflicts between primary interests, conflicts of commitment involve two perfectly respectable activities (indeed, in some cases, identical activities, except that they are conducted at different institutions). Also, like conflicts of interest, the institution can legitimately claim in advance that one activity takes priority over the other if they come into conflict in any way. The concern is not usually about the risk of undue influence over specific decisions (e.g., the reporting of research findings). Rather, the concern is about time and effort, for example, whether individuals are devoting sufficient attention to their responsibilities within their own primary institution. Conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment are sometimes covered in the same institutional policy; but the circumstances, risks, and evaluative frameworks are sufficiently different that they warrant separate consideration. Nevertheless, it makes sense for the policies to be covered in the same documents and information resources and to be administered by the same officials and committees.

Conflict of interesr refers to a situation where a person has a personal interest that may affect the interest of the company s/he is working with or examining its systems.

The purpose of signing a conflict of interest document when for example, evaluating another university systems, is to ensure the objectivity of the evaluation.

How about policy on conflict of interest in research!

http://www.buckinstitute.org/FCOI_Policy

This fine review process of conflict of interest chart has origin from previous paper!

Excellent chart Ljubomir! Thanks for the forwarded policy on COI.

Conflict of interest issues are kept under control based on a transparent contract where terms are agreed upon between the person and the other or between the person and the institutions.

I view conflict of interest as when private and public interests can't be served at the same time by a particular party among all parties involved.  A conflict of interest is better than a total 'lack' of interest from one party with regards to all others.     Yes?