Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research

Disclosure Process

• At time of application, all investigators shall indicate whether they hold any Significant Financial Interests. SFIs include any financial interest held by the investigator and their family that reasonably appears to be related to the investigator's research, teaching or other institutional responsibilities.
• Disclosures remain valid for 12 months, and do not need to be updated with each application. Any significant changes to an SFI portfolio must be updated to the disclosure promptly.
• Disclosures are reviewed by the Office of Research Compliance & Integrity when a project has been awarded to determine if the relevant investigators have possible financial conflicts of interest.
• Should an FCOI be identified, a management plan will be developed in consultation with the relevant investigator(s), the investigator's department chair or dean, the Office of Sponsored Projects, and ORED.

Mandatory Training

PHS (NIH) funded researchers must complete FCOI training and provide proof of completion of training on this Policy prior to engaging in research funded by PHS, and at least every four years thereafter. They must also complete training within a reasonable period of time as determined by the Institutional Official in the event that this Policy is substantively amended in a manner that affects the requirements of Investigators, when an investigator is new to the institution, or if it is determined that the Investigator has not complied with this Policy or with a management plan related to their activities.

An online training module is available through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) at https://www.citiprogram.org/. PHS investigators should enroll in the CITI training program under Louisiana State University, complete the Conflicts of Interest course, and print out a Completion Report in order to provide certification of training. A copy of this certification form should then be forwarded to OSP.