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700-9 Conflict of Interest

Title: Conflict of Interest
Owner: IRB
Last Update/Revised: 05/01/2024

Policy: The protection of human subjects requires objectivity in communicating risks, selecting subjects, promoting informed consent, and gathering, analyzing, and reporting data. Therefore, the IRB will consider conflict of interest issues in its review and deliberations of submissions.

All investigators must disclose any potential conflicts and/or declare any significant potential financial interests related to the research on the IRB Review Form. The IRB will review any disclosed conflicts of interest and management plans to consider the effect on participant protections. The IRB has the final authority to decide whether the conflicting interests and management plans adequately protect participants and allow research to be approved.

All IRB Reviewer Checklists contain a section where the IRB reviewer either states no conflict of interest or discloses any potential or known conflicts prior to agreeing to conduct a review. In the case of a potential or known conflict of interest, the IRB Chair will re-assign the review.  Conflicts of interest in convened meetings with IRB Committee Members are dealt with according to 700-23: Full Board Review.

Purpose: This policy aims to explain how conflicts of interest are managed in the IRB process.

Procedures:

  1. Investigators must disclose any known or potential conflicts of interest on the IRB Review Form.
    1.   In the case of a disclosure, the IRB will deliberate about the possible impact on the research and make decisions according to procedures detailed in each project/research type (i.e., exempt, expedited, full board review).
  2. IRB Reviewers must disclose any known or potential conflicts of interest on the IRB Reviewer Checklist.
    1. In the case of a disclosure during an expedited review, the IRB Chair will re-assign the review.
    2. In the case of a disclosure during a full board meeting, see 700-23: Full Board Review.

Scope: This policy applies to conflicts of interest that may occur during research or the review of research.

Documents and Forms:

IRB Review Forms: DBA Program, DNP Program, EdD Program, Faculty & Staff (available in Policy 700-41)

IRB Reviewer Checklist (available on IRB Google Drive)