In order to assess the extent to which faculty researchers have personal financial relationships with the sponsors of their research,the authors of this study looked at conflict of interest disclosure forms of facuty at the University of California of San Fransisco and found that from 1980 to 1999, almost 7.6% of faculty investigators reported personal financial ties with sponsors of their research. Throughout the study period, 34% of disclosed relationships involved paid speaking engagements, 33% involved consulting agreements between researcher and sponsor, and 32% involved the investigator holding a position on a scientific advisory board or board of directors. The authors examines suggestions made by the advisory panel on perceived conflicts of interest during this period, and recommends that guidelines for what constitutes a conflict and how the conflict should be managed are needed if researchers are to have consistent standards of behavior among institutions
