Responsible Conduct of Research- Conflict of Interest

Researchers work hard, often spending long hours and sometimes weekends in the laboratory, library, or at professional meetings. Their motivation for working hard stems from many sources. Research advances knowledge, leads to discoveries that will benefit individuals and society, furthers professional advancement, and/o results in personal gain and satisfaction. Each of these incentives or interests is commonly recognized as responsible and justifiable.

Researchers are allowed to and even encouraged to profit from their work (e.g., commercialization of inventions). Professional advancement as a researcher depends on productivity. Society expects researchers to use the funds it supplies to advance knowledge and to make useful discoveries. Personal gain and satisfaction provide strong incentives for doing a good job and acting responsibly.

Researchers' interests can and often do conflict with one another. The advancement of knowledge is usually best served by sharing ideas with colleagues, putting many minds to work on the same problem. But personal gain is sometimes best served by keeping ideas to oneself until they are fully developed and then protected through patents, copyrights, or publications. Legitimate research interests can create competing responsibilities and lead to what is common called conflicts of interest.

It is important to understand that conflicts of interest are not inherently wrong. The complex and demanding nature of research today inevitably gives rise to competing obligations and interests. Researchers are expected to serve on committees, to train young researchers, to teach, and to review grants and manuscripts at the same time they pursue their own research. Conflicts of interest cannot and need not be avoided. However, three crucial areas: financial gain, work commitments,; and intellectual and personal matters, special steps are needed to assure that conflicts do not interfere with the responsible practice of research.

Conflicts of Commitment arise from situations that place competing demands on researchers' time and loyalties. At any time, a researcher might be:

• working on one or more funded projects;
• preparing to submit a request for a new project;
• teaching and advising students;
• attending professional meetings and giving lectures;
• serving as a peer reviewer;
• sitting on advisory boards; or
• working as a paid consultant, officer, or employee in a private company.

Each of these activities requires time and makes demands on a researcher's institutional commitments. Care needs to be taken to assure that these commitments do not inappropriately interfere with one another.

(Note: the introductory paragraph on this page is adapted from the book Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research by Nicholas H. Steneck, published by the NIH Office of Research Integrity)