Financial Conflicts of Interest in School Psychology: A Continuing Problem

School psychology contributes to the science of human behavior and utilizes this science to inform an evidence-based practice. The usefulness of this science is dependent on scientists making good faith efforts to minimize bias in their research. Nonetheless, implicit biases can still influence scientists’ decisions and, hence, the outcomes of their investigations. One source of such bias comes from conflicts of interest (COIs). In this article, we discuss COIs within the context of science, with a particular focus on financial COIs. In addition, we discuss how financial COIs can arise in school psychology as well as some ways the COIs may influence psychological science. We conclude by discussing how financial COIs are typically handled and some suggestions for handling them in the future.