Starting in October, the Nature titles, including Nature Genetics, will ask authors of research papers to declare any competing financial interests in their work (see Nature, 23 August, p. 751 for details). A short statement will appear in the published paper, and in cases where authors disclose a financial interest, details will be published on our web site. There is of course nothing wrong with commercialization per se; one reason for funding basic science research is the expectation that it will lead to useful—and potentially valuable—applications. The concern arises when such interests are undisclosed, raising the possibility of biasing effects that are invisible to the reader. There is evidence from the clinical literature that financial interests affect the reporting of research results, but there is little information about the basic science literature. We hope that by adopting a systematic approach to the disclosure of competing interests, we will enable our readers to make a more informed judgment of their possible significance.