Policies and Practices of Australian Universities on Competing Interests of Academic Staff

Abstract

It is widely recognized that competing financial(and non-financial) interests may (inappropriately) influence the design and outcomes of research, the nature of public discourse and the development of public policy and the lack of transparency about competing interests risks undermining public trust in the independence and integrity of universities and university research. While most educational and research institutions now require the disclosure of competing interests it is unclear to what extent this information is accessible to the public and media. Objective To document the existence and provisions of Australian universities'(n=39) policies on academic staff's competing interests and university practices in recording, updating and making these publicly accessible.