Baylor University encourages its faculty and staff members to interact appropriately with business, industry, public and private foundations, government agencies, religious and other institutions both national and international. Such interaction assures the relevance of our missions to teaching, research, and public service. Attempts to balance University responsibilities with external activities can result in real or apparent conflicts which may include conflicts of time commitment and conflicts of interest.

In addition to their obligations to report and work with the university to manage any potential conflicts of interest, faculty and staff engaged in sponsored research are subject to COI regulations imposed by federal, state, and local agencies that sponsor their research. These regulations vary depending upon the agency, but in general require that institutions and investigators assure that the design, conduct, and reporting of research findings are free from bias resulting from the financial interests of the investigators and staff. In these cases, Baylor faculty and staff are subject to both Baylor policies and any other regulations that may apply and therefore must complete a COI disclosure form for Baylor and the applicable regulatory agency.

Recent changes have been made to policies governing conflicts of interest for projects funded by Public Health Service (PHS) agencies. For more information about the PHS policy and how it affects Baylor researchers, click here. Other federal agencies are also considering COI policy revisions. Investigators may contact OSP to learn more about the financial conflicts of interest requirements for other federal funding agencies.

Reporting COI at Baylor

• Conflicts of interest are reported annually via an electronic form.
• Any change in status during the year requires the faculty or staff member to update his/her disclosure form via the electronic form.