title: Conﬂict of interest - serious issue on publication ethics for Indian medical journals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are several vested interest lies on research publication hence the editorial policy is the sole important factor to control and regulate ethical publications in medical sciences especially on 'conﬂict of interest' issue. The study was aimed to assess on awareness of 'conﬂict of interest' issue in medical research and publication among the editorial staff, peer reviewers and authors of Indian medical journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total 61 authors who have published research articles recently in Indian medical journals from 2008-2012, 56 peer reviewers who reviewed the manuscripts during same period and 35 editorial board members of various Indian medical journals were assessed by questionnaire and telephone interview regarding their understanding and knowledge on 'conﬂict of interest' issue for ethical publication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only seven (12%) of the authors knew about the 'conﬂict of interest' issue and 11 (19%) of the medical authors have just heard about it. Out of 12% of authors who knew 'conﬂict of interest' issue only 15% provided that statement to the journals. Among the peer reviewers only 17 (30%) knew about 'conﬂict of interest' of which 51 (91.5%) stated that they do not bother about this issue while reviewing the manuscripts. But interestingly 42 (75%) of the peer reviewers confessed that they had a bias on the topics written by their friends or students. Among the editorial board members of Indian medical journals only 14 (25%) have any idea on 'conﬂict of interest issue'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results clearly shows poor understanding of 'conﬂict of interest' like important ethical issue among Indian medical scientists or journals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology,BLDE University's Sri B.M. Patil Medical College, Bijapur-586103, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Kusal K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, BLDE University's Sri B.M. Patil Medical College, Bijapur-586103, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Tejaswini
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vallabha
authors.affiliation: Institute of Child Health, Kolkata-700017, India.
authors.forename: Jaydeb
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of E.N.T. and Head and Neck Surgery, Dr. P.S. Institute of Medical Sciences and R.F., Gannavaram, A.P, India.
authors.forename: P S N
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Murthy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001319:Authorship; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000941:ethics*; D011643:Publishing / Q000941:ethics*