Find the funding and conflict of interest statements in a research paper
A conflict of interest statement tells you whether any author has a financial or personal stake in the result, such as consulting fees, stock holdings, patents or a role at the company whose product was tested. It is usually a short paragraph near the end of the article, and funding details may sit in a separate section or the acknowledgments. Ask Search+ "Who funded this study, and what competing interests do the authors declare?" and the answer cites each statement so you can read the exact wording.
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Last updated October 2026
How to check a paper's competing interests with Search+
- Upload the article as published
Use the publisher's version where you can. Declarations are sometimes added at the proof stage, so an early manuscript may lack the final statement.
- Ask about funding and interests separately
Ask who funded the work, then what each author declares. Funding statements and competing interest statements are often in different places and use different wording.
- Read the cited declaration in full
Open the excerpt behind each answer. If the statement refers to a separate disclosure form or supplementary file, add that document to the workspace and ask again.
Questions to ask about conflicts of interest
Which organizations funded this study, and did any funder have a role in the design, analysis or decision to publish?
Do any authors report employment, consulting fees, stock or advisory roles with a company connected to the topic?
Does any author hold or have applied for a patent related to what the paper tests?
Were drugs, devices, software or data provided by a company, and is that mentioned anywhere besides the funding section?
Does the paper state that the authors have no competing interests, or is there no statement at all?
What to look for in a conflict of interest statement
Most journals place declarations after the main text, under headings such as "Competing interests", "Declaration of interests" or "Disclosures". Some journals put them on the first page as a footnote.
A funding statement says who paid for the research. A competing interest statement covers the authors' other ties. Read both, because a study can have independent funding and conflicted authors, or the reverse.
Many journals ask authors to say whether the funder influenced the design, data collection, analysis or publication. That sentence matters more than the funder's name alone.
"The authors declare no competing interests" is a statement. A paper with no declaration section at all tells you less, and older papers often lack one.
Search+ answers with inline citations to the declaration text, and gives the section heading or page where the paper provides it. It does not invent a location the paper does not contain.
Disclosure wording you may see, and what to ask next
| Wording you may see | What it usually signals | A follow-up question |
|---|---|---|
| "The funders had no role in study design..." | A statement of funder independence | Does this apply to all funders listed, including in-kind support? |
| "has received consulting fees from" | A paid relationship with a company | Is that company connected to the product or topic studied? |
| "is an employee of" or "holds stock in" | A direct financial interest | Which authors does this apply to, and what was their role in the study? |
| "provided free of charge by" | Industry support that is not cash funding | What exactly was provided, and is it also listed as funding? |
| "declare no competing interests" | No conflicts reported by the authors | Does the funding section name any commercial sponsor? |
| No declaration section | The paper or journal may not have required one | Is there any mention of funding in the acknowledgments? |
What is a conflict of interest statement in a research paper?
A conflict of interest statement is the part of a research paper where the authors disclose financial or personal relationships that a reader could see as influencing the work, such as employment, consulting, stock, patents or grants from an interested party.
Conflict of interest questions
Can Search+ find the conflict of interest statement in a paper?
Does it also find funding mentioned in the acknowledgments?
Can it tell me whether a conflict biased the results?
Can I check funding across many papers at once?
What if the declarations are in a separate file?
Is the answer always complete?
Know who stands behind the study
Start a workspace, upload the paper, and ask who paid for it and what the authors declare.
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