Disclosure of financial sources and conflicts of interest among research articles published in Revista Medica de Chile

Background: Financial relationships between the industry and researchers have raised concerns about the existence of conflicts of interest that could influence the scientific validity of the studies. Aim: To determine the financial sources of research articles published in the Revista MMica de Chile during a five-year period. Material and Methods: Retrospective analysis of all articles classified as "research articles", published in this journal between years 2001-2005, identifying the funding source and the existence of a declaration of conflicts of interest by the authors. Results. Two hundred seventeen out of 519 research articles published in the period (4290 bad an explicit financial source disclosed. of these, 28% were funded by internal sources, 36016 by Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cientifico, y Tecnologico and 36% by other sources. Twenty-six studies (596) received funding from the industry. In only five of these, the authors explicity declared the absence of conflict of interest. Among the studies that did not disclose any financial source, one third required some funding to be carried out. Conclusions: Forty two percent of research articles published in the last.,five years did not specify the financial source. Those that did specify a funding source were mainly supported by non-profit agencies including university centers and governmental funds. This is in contrast with international reports that evidence an important financial support from the industry. Only a minority of the authors sponsored by the industry declared absence of conflict of interest