Institutional Conflict of Interest Policies at U.S. Academic Research Institutions
Open accessAbstract
PURPOSE: Institutional conflicts of interest (ICOIs) occur when the institution or leaders with authority to act on behalf of the institution have conflicts of interest (COIs) that may threaten the objectivity, integrity, or trustworthiness of research because they could impact institutional decision making. The purpose of this study was to gather and analyze information about the ICOI policies of the top 100 U.S. academic research institutions, ranked according to total research funding. METHOD: From May-June 2014, the authors attempted to obtain ICOI policy information for the top 100 U.S. academic research institutions from publicly available Web sites or via e-mail inquiry. If an ICOI policy was not found, the institutions' online COI policies were examined. Data on each institution's total research funding, national funding rank, public versus private status, and involvement in clinical research were collected. The authors developed a coding system for categorizing the ICOI policies and used it to code the policies for nine items. Interrater agreement and P values were assessed. RESULTS: Only 28/100 (28.0%) institutions had an ICOI policy. ICOI policies varied among the 28 institutions. Having an ICOI policy was positively associated with total research funding and national funding ranking but not with public versus private status or involvement in clinical research. CONCLUSIONS: Although most U.S. medical schools have policies that address ICOIs, most of the top academic research institutions do not. Federal regulation and guidance may be necessary to encourage institutions to adopt ICOI policies and establish a standard form of ICOI review.
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Financial conflicts of interest affect not only individual researchers but also academic institutions and institutional leaders.
“However, financial CoIs do not only affect individual researchers, but also academic institutions and institutional leaders [286][287][288][289] , and current policies tend to regulate even small benefits to individual researchers (e.g., free meals), while often failing to address appropriately the effects of large amount of funding for institutions 289,290 .”
From Ethical challenges in contemporary psychiatry: an overview and an appraisal of possible strategies and research needs (2024) · cites this paper as [286]
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Self-citationResearch-Related Injury Compensation Policies of U.S. Research Institutions
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- Authors
- Resnik, D. B., Ariansen, J. L., Jamal, J., & Kissling, G. E.
- Affiliations
- North Carolina Central University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Resnik, David B.
- ORCID
- Resnik, David B.
- Venue
- Academic Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-02
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 242-246
- ISSN
- 1040-2446 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4731244
- OpenAlex
- W2413718608
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 3.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Academic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ZIAES102646)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Medical Research Impacts
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
- Keywords
- conflict of interest policies, academic research institutions, research integrity, research funding, medical schools, clinical research, federal regulation, policy adoption
- MeSH terms
- Financing, Government, Health Facilities, Humans, Retrospective Studies, United States, Organizational Policy, Conflict of Interest, Ethics Committees, Research, Biomedical Research
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