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What is Financial Conflict of Interest?
“Financial Conflict of Interest” refers to situations in which financial considerations may compromise or have the appearance of compromising, an investigator’s professional judgment in conducting or reporting research. The bias such conflict may conceivably impart not only affects collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, but also the hiring of staff, procurement of materials, sharing of results, choice of protocol, involvement of human participants, and the use of statistical methods.(Task Force on Research Accountability, Report on Individual and Institutional Financial Conflict of Interest, Report and Recommendations, Association of American Universities, October 2001, p. 2.)
Examples of potential financial considerations include salary; equity; stock options; stock warranties; consulting fees; royalty interest; income from seminars, lectures or teaching engagements; income from service on advisory committees or review panels; legal partnerships; gifts to their institutions; and other form of payments to the investigators, key personnel, their spouses, domestic partners and dependent children.
What is Conflict of Commitment?
A “Conflict of Commitment” exists when the external activities of an Employee are so substantial or demanding of the staff member’s time and attention as to interfere with the individual’s responsibilities to the unit to which the individual is assigned, to students or to the University.
What is Institutional Conflict of Interest?
“Institutional Financial Conflict of Interest” may occur when the institution, any of its senior management or trustees, or a department, school, or other sub-unit, or an affiliated foundation or organization, has an external relationship or financial interest in a company that itself has a financial interest in a faculty research project. Senior managers or trustees may also have conflicts when they serve on the boards of (or otherwise have an official relationship with) organizations that have significant commercial transactions with the University. The existence (or appearance) of such conflict can lead to actual bias, or suspicion about possible bias, in the review or conduct of research at the University. If they are not evaluated or managed, they may result in choices or actions that are incongruent with the missions, obligations or the values of the University.(Task Force on Research Accountability, Report on Individual and Institutional Financial Conflict of Interest, Report and Recommendations, Association of American Universities, October 2001, p. 10.)
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