Mechanism(s) to Ensure Academic Integrity

One of the University's primary priorities is to ensure the integrity of the academic research endeavor. To this end, it may be useful to consider the following measures:

- Periodic peer review or oversight review of the activity
- Suggestion of names of other faculty members who may agree to monitor external relationships as they relate to research contract
- Submittal by a peer reviewer of a report to the Dean, or a designee of the Dean, either orally or in writing.

In some cases, the nature of the research activity may eliminate the potential for conflict of interest. If so, you should explain fully but succinctly.

In other cases, particularly for projects with strongly applied or proprietary interest or with high potential economic impact for a company or industrial sector, the objectivity of research may be questioned in one or more of the following areas:

- Problem definition and research design
- Data integrity and confidentiality
- Data analysis
- Reporting results.

In such cases, a Conflict Management Plan should suggest steps that you will take in these areas to ensure confidence in the objectivity of the results. These may include standard procedures in your discipline, which you should briefly summarize. You may also include additional steps, such as:

- Review of the problem formulation and research design by a disinterested party who is aware of your business or financial interest that creates a potential conflict
- Use of a third-party organization, such as the Center for Survey Research, to receive and code survey data
- Concurrent replication at another site where you do not have a business or financial interest
- Assignment of another faculty member as principal investigator of the project.

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