An example of an individual financial conflict of interest (COI) is when a researcher's spouse holds equity in a publicly traded pharmaceutical company that is also sponsoring the researcher's study. This situation represents a financial COI because the spouse's financial interest in the sponsoring company could potentially influence the researcher's professional decisions and objectivity regarding the study. This could lead to biased research outcomes or the perception of compromised integrity in the research.

Explanation

• A financial COI occurs when an individual's (or their close family member's) financial interests have the potential to affect their professional decisions.
• In this example, the researcher's spouse owns shares in the company funding the research, which could benefit financially from positive study results.
• Even if unintentional, this creates a conflict between the researcher's duty to conduct unbiased research and the financial interests connected through their spouse.
• Disclosure and management of such conflicts are crucial to maintain transparency and trust in research outcomes.

Other scenarios that do not constitute clear individual financial COIs include situations where the researcher is merely considering buying stock without owning any yet, or where financial benefits pertain to the researcher's child rather than the researcher themselves. This example is widely used in ethics discussions to illustrate the concept of individual financial conflicts of interest.