Conflict of interest: Editor's commentary

There is nothing wrong with having one or more Conflicts of Interest; it is wrong not to declare potential Conflicts of Interest.1 However, stating a Conflict of Interest does not exonerate an author from trying to avoid bias in writing a review article. There is evidence that financial Conflicts of Interest are common and not always declared by authors writing about drugs.2 Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of the editor to decide whether or not an article by an author who has declared a potential Conflict of Interest should or should not be published. In the case of the article by Professor Tudehope et al.,3 we decided that the article merited publication and the authors' position on preterm formulas was not unduly influenced by the stated conflict. We welcome further debate on the important topic of how to deal with potential Conflicts of Interest.