Editorial
University Conflicts of Interest: Manage Rather than Avoid
T
he phrase "conflict of interest", with all its trappings of rules and oversight forms, is becoming pervasive in science. Most academic research institutions now require yearly declarations from their faculty; government laboratories and agencies typically have strict rules governing the subject. The universityindustry interface is important for cross-talk and entrepreneurship based on research, such as that published in Analytical Chemistry. .n this ediiorial, , will discuss some aspects of conflicts at that interface. Conflict of interest implies an opportunity for professional sin. A problem with this concept is that there can be honest disagreement as to whether the sin exists. Evaluating conflicts of interest is thus surrounded by substantial subjectivity. Let me illustrate: If I have decision-making power over whether my hand or my neighbor's hand gets chopped off, then it is likely that my decision will contain some untoward bias. This example is an easy one. Less obvious is the situation of my daughter taking my chemistry course. Was her grade of A unfair? In another "gray area" example, consider that I, a faculty person and part-time paid consultant to company A successfully use my chemical knowledge to lead company A to an important technological advance. However, I own a few hundred shares of stock of the parent company of company A. Was my consulting arrangement a conflict of interest? You must search my soul to know the answers to these last two cases. The answers may be "yes" if my sole concern is family or personal monetary benefit, and they may be "no" if I am behaving as a responsible scientific professional. In other words, I am likely to be judged as having a conflict of interest if I am regarded as a venal person and unlikely to be judged as having a conflict of interest if I am regarded as an honorable person. Partly because of its fuzzy nature, the differences among clear conflicts (like my hand), perceptions of conflicts (imagined conflicts), and potential conflicts (which might come to pass) have become blurred. The nervousness of institutions about their public images and the
consequent "play safe" tendencies to completely avoid conflicts of interest, of whatever stripe, are correspondingly aggravated. I believe that rules to prohibit conflicts from arising is a damaging approach, at least in a university, because they dampen the creative and innovative behavior that is desirable for a vigorous professional community. In particular, the university's role of both generating knowledge and seeing that it is used for societal benefit can be severely blunted. Conflicts of interest are almost inevitable for the academic researcher who, in order to see his or her research translated into useful products, wants to work with an existing or start-up company. This kind of university-industry interface has experienced much growth in recent years, and avoiding conflicts associated with a researcher's parttime or financial involvement in outside enterprises can be difficult. I would assert that the sensible institutional attitude is to be sure that the administrator is aware of the details of the situation (hence the annual evaluation forms). Together, the researcher and administrator should manage the conflict so as to protect essential university principles. The faculty member should be presumed innocent at the outset. A university chancellor I know made the very apt point that, at a good research institution, it is the job of faculty to create conflicts of interest and the job of administrators to manage them, so as to avoid undesirable outcomes. Criteria for successfully managing conflicts among faculty working at the academic-industry interface need not be complex at all. They should be the same simple, irreducible elements that constitute the core mission of any university—namely, protect the interests of any students involved, give the students the best learning experience possible, preserve the faculty commitment to the responsibilities of teaching and research, and maintain the freedom to publish the results of academic research.
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, November 1, 1999 713 A
