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On Misplaced Pages, a conflict of interest is an incompatibility between what the community believes is in Misplaced Pages's best interest and what you believe is in your best interest. If you edit Misplaced Pages to promote your goals to the detriment of the project's goals, you are abusing your conflict of interest and may be subject to sanctions, such as not being allowed to edit articles.
This essay outlines typical issues related to conflicts of interest in medicine-related articles on Misplaced Pages.
Who has a conflict of interest?
Misplaced Pages ultimately draws a distinction between having a conflict of interest and abusing a conflict of interest. It is possible for a person to have, or to appear to have, a conflict of interest without abusing it.
Merely having a real-world connection to the subject is not, on its own, a violation of Misplaced Pages's policies. For example, a person who is employed by a pharmaceutical manufacturer has a conflict of interest, but if this person's edits comply with Misplaced Pages's content and sourcing policies, then the person is not abusing the conflict of interest, and is welcome to edit articles.
Prohibitions on being paid to edit articles have been discussed, and have not been adopted. It is difficult to detect paid editors without voluntary disclosure, and it is possible to edit an article in ways that ultimately benefit Misplaced Pages more than the paid editor.
"Being an expert" has never been considered a conflict of interest by the Misplaced Pages community. However, a very few experts have tried to use Misplaced Pages to promote their own theories, and that is always inappropriate.
Common mistakes by new editors include:
| Possible conflict | Possible problems |
|---|---|
| Employees of pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturers | Deleting well-sourced information about adverse effects to make the product look safer or more effective |
| Healthcare professionals (mainstream and alternative) | Adding or removing information so that a patient will make the "right" choice |
| Healthcare advocates and activists | Promoting biased or tiny minority viewpoints |
| People with a medical condition | Changing the page to make sure it has the "right" information that matches your personal experience or opinion. |
| Academics and other experts | Citing your latest paper in the hope that increased visibility will drive up your H-index |
On the other hand, people with a close tie to the subject are often very knowledgeable, and their opinions can be very useful when it comes to the who, what, where, when, and how of complex topics. Examples include:
| Possible conflict | Possible expertise |
|---|---|
| Employees of pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturers | Knowledge of a product's regulatory and commercial history |
| Healthcare professionals (mainstream and alternative) | Knowledge of well-sourced information about the profession, health issues, or treatments |
| Healthcare advocates and activists | Knowledge of sources regarding social movements and effects |
| People with a medical condition | Ensuring pages make sense to the average reader |
| Academics and other experts | Adding well-sourced information to reflect the current expert opinion |
However, once a reliable source has been identified any editor can help integrate it into a page in a neutral manner that works towards a consensus supported by all editors.
Disclosing a conflict of interest
If you have a conflict of interest, you are encouraged—but not required—to share that information with others.
Self-identification is a two-edged sword: You get points from most users for being honest, and editors often recognize your expertise, but a few have used it to harass editors. Do not disclose personal information that could put you at risk in the real world, such as by attracting stalkers to your home.
If your conflict of interest relates to your employment, you should check with your employer. Some companies require public disclosure of the conflict of interest, and a few prohibit their employees from editing Misplaced Pages. You might be eligible for two separate accounts if you want to separate your work-related editing from non-work-related editing.
- Ways to voluntarily disclose a conflict of interest
- Some editors have voluntarily chosen to disclose a conflict of interest by including their employers' names in their account names, e.g., these folks from GlaxoSmithKline. You may not, however, have an account used by multiple people.
- Other editors explain their situation on their user pages.
- Another option is to identify your conflict of interest on the talk pages of articles you edit.
- Editing without an account exposes your IP address to the world. Corporate IP addresses are highly traceable, and public reports are sporadically issued on abusive editing by unregistered users from corporate offices, leading to embarrassment and occasionally real-world disciplinary actions.
How to minimize abuse
Editors at medicine-related articles use several strategies to reduce the risk of abusing a conflict of interest. These include:
- Meeting obvious needs. Anyone is welcome to revert vandalism and to fix grammar problems. Please correct serious factual errors, although you might leave the fine points and controversies to others.
- Learning our standards. Read our advice on finding the best sources for medical information at WP:MEDRS. Read our style guide at WP:MEDMOS. Remember that Misplaced Pages does not provide medical advice and is not a patient guide or drug formulary.
- Adding non-controversial information. Employees in the medical manufacturing industries might be in a unique position to provide commercial, regulatory, and historical information for products. Healthcare professionals are often skilled at explaining complex disease processes. Patients with chronic medical conditions often understand the prognosis and social impact of a medical challenge. Within your expertise, focus on the 90% that everyone agrees on, rather than the 10% that is disputed.
- Supplying top-quality sources for everything. Adding high-quality independent, third-party sources is one of the best ways to show that your work is intended to benefit the reader, rather than yourself.
- Working together. Propose sources and improvements on the talk pages, explaining your reticence to boldly add the material if you suspect that you might be accused of abusing a conflict of interest.
- Getting help with disputes. If you need help, post a message at WikiProject Medicine or WikiProject Pharmacology to request help.
See also
- Misplaced Pages:How to not get outed on Misplaced Pages
- Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages is in the real world
- Misplaced Pages:Ten Simple Rules for Editing Misplaced Pages
- Misplaced Pages:Expert retention