Ethics, funding and alcohol research

The field of alcohol research is a multidisciplinary area of inquiry. Moreover the debate about alcohol issues is highly politicized, involving not only researchers but also 'advocates' and those with strong ideological orientations or who represent powerful vested interests. Researchers may easily be caught in the crossfire in polemics involving such people. From time to time ethical malpractice is evident, yet there are often neither clear guidelines to delineate which behaviours are unacceptable nor how ethical violations are to be handled. This paper considers a number of key issues currently topical in the field. These are specifically concerned with the relationships between funders or sponsors and policy makers and researchers. Such issues include the ownership of data, sponsor control and the divergent cultures and outlooks of researchers and sponsors/funders. it is concluded that the field of alcohol research requires a code of ethics to regulate the relationship between researchers and funders. This should provide protection for subjects, patients, clients, researchers and those who pay for research. Some tentative suggestions are put forward for discussion.