# How does peer review deal with Conflict of Interest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099 "2014-06-05T05:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099/21 "2014-06-05T23:53:18Z")
> [@Carl\_Pham](#): > > Would that matter? Not to me. See above. If your paper doesn’t stand on its own, I don’t recommend publication. If it does, I do. Doesn’t matter who you are, nor who helps pay your mortgage. I would quit the field if it ever started seeming like that was important. Which reminds me that one major conference does blind reviewing - the names of the authors are removed, as is clues inside the paper which could give the names (such as in our previous work we …) This is done to eliminate the halo effect. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099/22 "2014-06-07T20:42:08Z")
> [@Carl\_Pham](#): > > Would that matter? Not to me. See above. If your paper doesn’t stand on its own, I don’t recommend publication. If it does, I do. Doesn’t matter who you are, nor who helps pay your mortgage. I would quit the field if it ever started seeming like that was important. I think the issue here has to do with straight-up fabricated data. As in, such conflicts leading to the data being fudged or just made out of whole cloth. Then again, I’m mostly asking for the sake of my… shall we say “less science-minded” friends, so… ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099/23 "2014-06-07T21:13:54Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I think the issue here has to do with straight-up fabricated data. As in, such conflicts leading to the data being fudged or just made out of whole cloth. Then again, I’m mostly asking for the sake of my… shall we say “less science-minded” friends, so… If the data is fabricated, then non-biased or less-biased researchers will be unable to reproduce the findings. If enough papers are published indicating that D. BribedByBigPharma-Conflictedman (2010)'s research data doesn’t match what others are getting, then his theories lose credibility, he will stop getting cited so much. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099/24 "2014-06-07T21:53:16Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > If the data is fabricated, then non-biased or less-biased researchers will be unable to reproduce the findings. If enough papers are published indicating that D. BribedByBigPharma-Conflictedman (2010)'s research data doesn’t match what others are getting, then his theories lose credibility, he will stop getting cited so much. Problem solved. You are assuming that someone else is going to try to replicate the experiment, which won’t happen unless the results are important or surprising in some way, or it has to be done as a precursor to a researcher’s real work. Why would you? You get zero brownie points if the experiment works, and very few if it doesn’t. This also applies to honest mistakes, not just fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099/25 "2014-06-07T22:02:19Z")
But then the flip side is that if it’s not important and doesn’t matter, then it doesn’t really affect things if it’s been falsified. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-peer-review-deal-with-conflict-of-interest/690099.md?page=1)