Integrity and Compliance

Utah State University strives to perform world-class research in an ethical and compliant way. The Research Integrity & Compliance Office (RIC) supports that goal by providing USU researchers with oversight, guidance, and support in the areas of conflict of interest, responsible conduct of research (RCR), export controls, foreign influence, and research misconduct.

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Compliance Updates

  • In an effort to decrease administrative burden for faculty, COI disclosure update requirements have been modified. In addition to the annual disclosure process, updates will only be needed if a new Sponsored Programs project is awarded, when new reportable interests develop, or if a researcher has an expired disclosure if submitting a proposal to NIH, NSF, DOE, or NASA. Previously, COI disclosure updates were required at the proposal stage.

  • NASA has updated its Conflict of Interest policy to require that a researcher’s COI disclosure be up to date at the time of proposal submission.
  • The HHS Office or Research Integrity (ORI) has proposed revisions to their policies on Research Misconduct. USU uses ORI’s rules as the foundation for our Research Misconduct Procedures. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is currently in the review and comment phase, which ends December 5, 2023. We will update our procedures when the final version of the rules are released (anticipated early 2024).

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