Revised:
09/05/2012
Conflicts of Commitment in Research UPPS No. 02.02.08
and Sponsored Program Activities Issue No. 1
Effective
Date: 09/12/2011
May 1 E3Y
01.
POLICY STATEMENTS
01.01 This policy relates to the participation of researchers (see Section
03. Definitions) in outside activities or employment that may conflict with
their primary research commitment to the university and to its research
mission.
01.02 Expansion
of the research mission is a critical priority as Texas State University-San
Marcos moves into the future. Promoting public good by fostering the transfer
of knowledge gained through research to the private sector is vital to this
mission.
01.03 Texas
State recognizes and even encourages its researchers to be involved in professional
and other outside activities (e. g., consulting, guest lecturing, serving in
professional and community organizations, etc.) when such activities enhance
the researcher’s professional competence, complement their teaching mission,
contribute to their professional discipline, and do not conflict with their
primary commitments to the university.
01.04 Texas
State recognizes it is not practical or desirable to define strict time and
location restrictions on how researchers meet their primary professional
commitments due to the nature of university-related educational, research,
service and related activities. It is expected, however, that researchers will
arrange any external activities they may engage in so as not to interfere with
their commitment to the university and to its research mission.
01.05 Thus, it
may be necessary to disclose and question the extent of such involvement or the
appropriateness of certain activities to determine if conflicts of commitment
related to research and sponsored program activities exist. This policy
provides guidance to individual researchers in identifying and avoiding
possible problems in this area.
02. SCOPE
OF POLICY
02.01 This policy is in conjunction with UPPS No.
04.04.06, Additional State Employment and Outside Employment and Activities but pertains only to conflicts of commitment in
research and other sponsored activities.
02.02 The policy
applies to all researchers and pertains to their university contract period
(nine-month, twelve-month, or other) and the percent time the university pays
them. When researchers have a less than twelve-month contract, the university
does not concern itself with how those researchers spend the balance of their
non-contract time, as long as it does not conflict with their obligations to
the university and does not reflect unfavorably on the university.
02.03 Researchers
may not direct more than 20% of their total professional effort to outside work
during the time period that is normally required to meet the primary
obligation.
02.04 As a rule,
researchers should not take on substantial teaching or other commitments in
another educational institution. Exceptions would include guest lecturing,
participating in invited seminars, and similar activities.
02.05 Researchers
should not engage in external activities that are not consistent with good
professional practices; that impose restrictions on the freedom to publish
university-based work; or involve any significant use of university facilities,
materials, services, personnel, or restricted university information without
specific advance written permission.
02.06 The chief
research officer may appoint a university-wide committee to address specific
concerns or other unique circumstances arising from conflicts of commitment in
research and sponsored programs.
03. DEFINITIONS
03.01 Chief
Research Officer: An individual ultimately responsible for the oversight of
funded and unfunded research and sponsored programs at Texas State. At Texas
State, the chief research officer is the associate vice president for Research
(AVPR).
03.02 Researcher:
All individuals who are engaged in research, whether funded or unfunded, or in
sponsored program activities. For the purposes of this policy, the term “researchers”
refers to any Texas State faculty or staff member having direct responsibility
for the design, conduct or reporting of funded or unfunded research or other
sponsored program activities funded or proposed for funding by the federal
government or other external funder.
03.03 Sponsored
Programs: all extramurally-funded activities, including research, training,
instruction or public service projects involving funds, materials, or other
compensation from sources (sponsors) outside of Texas State, under a grant,
contract or other agreement that meets any of the following conditions:
a. Texas State
is bound to a line of scholarly or scientific inquiry specified to a
substantial level of detail. Indications of such specificity are the plan,
stipulation or requirements for orderly testing or validation of particular
approaches, or the designation of performance targets;
b. The sponsor
requires or the proposal submitted for consideration contains a line-item
budget or modular budget. A line-item budget details expenses by activity,
function, or project period. The designation of overhead (or indirect costs)
qualifies a budget as the sponsor requires financial or programmatic reports;
c. The sponsor
requires that the services performed, the funds awarded, or the materials
supplied under the agreement are subject to internal and external audit; or
d. The
agreement provides for the disposition of either tangible (e. g., equipment,
records, technical reports, theses, or dissertations) or intangible (e. g.,
rights in data or inventions) properties that may result from activities
covered by the agreement.
04. EXAMPLES
This section provides examples of activities that fall
under this policy and may or may not require disclosure and mitigation. The
examples below are general and given for the guidance of all concerned.
04.01 Activities
consistent with guidelines that do not require advance permission:
a.
Acceptance of
royalties for published scholarly works or other writings, or of honoraria for
commissioned papers and occasional lectures;
b.
Service on
committees or boards of organizations, public or private, which does not
conflict with university obligations or create financial conflicts of interest;
c.
Consulting with
outside organizations or clients, provided that it does not conflict with
obligations to the university or the practice or policy restrictions of the
college involved and does not create financial conflicts of interest (see UPPS No.
02.02.07, Researcher
Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities);
d.
Ownership of or
equity in a corporation used solely for the individual’s consulting activities,
provided that the university does not have, and is not expected to enter into,
a contract for services with said corporation, and the ownership does not
create a financial conflict of interest (see UPPS No.
02.02.07, Researcher
Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities);
e. Dissemination of scholarly and
creative works including presentation of
papers, lectures, concerts or exhibits; and
f. Participation
in seminars, conferences, reviewing or editing scholarly publications and books
and service to accreditation bodies.
04.02 Activities
requiring examination on a case-by-case basis and advance approval. The
activities in this section may also require disclosure of financial conflict of
interest (see UPPS No.
02.02.07, Researcher
Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities).
a. Service as a
principal consultant or director of an outside concern, service as a consultant
to a firm that in turn sponsors the researcher’s work,
or related work at the university;
b. Relationships
that might enable (or appear to enable) the researcher to influence the
university's dealings with an outside organization in ways leading to personal
gain or other conflicts of interest; and
c. Activities
that appear to conflict with university policies governing research funded by
an external agency and with funds administered by the university; and
*d. Assigning
postdoctoral fellows or other trainees of similar status (excepting undergrad
and grad students) to university projects sponsored by a for-profit or
not-for-profit business, provided the arrangement is in compliance with UPPS No.
02.02.07,
Researcher Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities
04.03 Activities that are
probably unacceptable:
a. Attempts to
mitigate researcher over commitment by directly or indirectly involving
students in activities outside their normal academic pursuits;
b. Service
involving executive responsibility for an outside concern working in areas
related to the researcher member's professional activities;
c. Participating
in research under university auspices involving technology owned by or
contractually obligated (by license or exercise of an option to license or
otherwise) to a business in which the individual or family member holds a
significant financial interest (see UPPS
No. 02.02.07,
Researcher Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities), excluding a consulting relationship;
d. Receiving,
through contract or grant, support for research under university auspices from
a business in which the individual or family member has a significant financial
interest (see UPPS No.
02.02.07, Researcher
Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities);
e. Accepting
support for research under university auspices under terms and conditions where
results are confidential, unpublished, or significantly delayed in publication,
other than the delay permitted for patents and copyrights;
*f. Assigning
students or other trainees of similar status (excepting postdoctoral scholars) to
university projects sponsored by a for-profit or not-for-profit business in
which the individual or family member has a significant financial interest,
including a significant consulting relationship (see UPPS No.
02.02.07, Researcher
Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities); and
g. Situations
where a research or service activity that could and ordinarily would be carried
on within the university is conducted elsewhere to the disadvantage of the
university and its legitimate interests.
05. PROCEDURES
05.01 Researchers
must inform the chief research officer in writing before engaging in any
significant outside professional activity as outlined in Sections 04.02 and
04.03 above. In addition, per UPPS No.
04.04.06, Additional State Employment and Outside Employment and Activities, it may also be necessary and appropriate for them to
notify their department chair or other supervisor. An activity’s significance
does not depend on the amount of time the activity involves. For example, a
single guest lecture or a one-time consulting visit is not normally significant
but a lecture series or an ongoing consulting relationship would be.
05.02. The chief research officer, the dean, and the researcher involved
shall make their best efforts to resolve disputes regarding an activity’s
propriety in a manner consistent with the shared mission of the department and
the university.
05.03. If researchers engage in any activities explicit or implicit to
Section 04.02 above, it is the responsibility of the researcher to comply with
the policy and procedures outlined in the UPPS
No. 02.02.07,
Researcher Conflicts of Interest in Research and Sponsored Program Activities.
06. NON-COMPLIANCE
06.01 Texas
State requires that all researchers will comply fully, truthfully and in a
timely manner with this policy. Instances of deliberate breach will subject the
researcher to disciplinary actions under policies of Texas State and The Texas
State University System. Such action could result in a formal reprimand,
non-renewal of appointment, termination of appointment or other enforcement
action.
06.02 If a
researcher’s failure to comply with this policy has biased the design, conduct
or reporting of funded or unfunded research or sponsored program activities,
Texas State will promptly notify the appropriate granting agency, sponsor, or
other appropriate agency of the incident so they may take corrective action.
07. REQUIRED CHANGES
07.01 The
university will change the policy and procedures set forth in this document as
required by future changes in federal, state, The Texas State University
System, or university regulations.
08. REVIEWERS OF THIS UPPS
08.01 Reviewers
of this UPPS include the following:
Position Date
Assistant Vice President for May 1 E3Y
Research and Federal Relations
Director, Office of Research May 1 E3Y
Compliance
09. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT
This UPPS has been approved by the following
individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State policy and
procedure from the date of this document until superseded.
Assistant Vice President for Research and Federal
Relations; senior reviewer of this UPPS
Associate Vice President for Research and Director of
Federal Relations
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
President