[Sigmetrics] Is there a relationship between the sponsorship of research projects and the quality of their results?

[Yegros, A.]

Dear Franz,

In terms of possible bias in research sponsored by industry, you might find interesting studies like this one:

Bes-Rastrollo, M; Schulze, MB; Ruiz-Canela, M; Martinez-Gonzalez, MA (2013) Financial Conflicts of Interest and Reporting Bias Regarding the Association between Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Weight Gain: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews. PLoS Medicine (doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001578)

In this particular paper,  Bes-Rastrollo et al. found that systematic reviews disclosing a conflict of interest were five times more likely to present a conclusion of no positive association between sugar-sweetened beverages and  weight gain/obesity than those without conflicts of interest.

Curious to see other comments.

Best regards,

Alfredo.




From: SIGMETRICS [mailto:sigmetrics-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of Barjak Franz
Sent: vrijdag 2 oktober 2015 10:01
To: sigmetrics at mail.asis.org
Subject: [Sigmetrics] Is there a relationship between the sponsorship of research projects and the quality of their results?

Dear all,

On another mailing list the question popped up, whether research sponsored by corporate foundations produces systematically different (higher or lower quality, biased etc.) results than research sponsored, for instance, by public research councils or science foundations. This seems like a specific aspect of the wider question on how sponsorship relates to research quality. Posting this question on researchgate.net generated some rambling posts but rather little empirical evidence. Can anyone on this list point me to studies or articles investigating this question?

Thanks and kind regards,
Franz

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