2. Research Ethics Policies

Revised 3/14/00

Two Federally mandated University of Utah policies, the Research Misconduct Policy and the Conflict of Interest (COI) policy, help define the ethical responsibilities of individuals involved in research and other sponsored projects.

2.1 Conflict of Interest

Revised 3/26/03

Conflict of Interest means any outside activity, commitment, or interest that may adversely affect, compromise, or be incompatible with the obligations of an employee to the University or to widely recognized professional norms. It includes but is not limited to situations where the designated university official reasonably determines that a significant financial or other interest could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct or reporting of research.

The University is required to oversee any project when any individual(s) involved in the design, conduct or reporting of the project has a conflict of interest. Currently, NIH requires that the University inform them of any conflict of interest PRIOR to any expenditure of funds and that we provide to the agency a copy of the monitoring plan. The existence of a COI does NOT necessarily preclude funding or implementation of the project. It merely states that the University and the individual with the conflict must modify, reduce or eliminate the conflict if, in the opinion of the University, the project has a strong potential for being negatively impacted by the conflict.

University procedure has been established to comply with these requirements and can be found at www.research.utah.edu/integrity/conflict/forms.html

Reference

Conflict of Interest Website: www.research.utah.edu/integrity/conflict/index.html