Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 7;19(8):e0304519. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304519. eCollection 2024.
There have been repeated calls for academic institutions to develop policies and procedures to manage institutional conflicts of interest (ICOI) arising from technology transfer activities. While prior research has examined adoption of ICOI policies by medical schools and universities, little is known about how these institutions handle ICOI in practice, hindering the development of evidence-based recommendations to improve ICOI management. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 senior administrators responsible for research integrity and conflict of interest issues at academic institutions. Data were analyzed using a descriptive qualitative content analysis approach, combining flexible coding to index the interview data with close examination, interpretation, and synthesis of coded content. Participants identified communication and information sharing between conflict of interest (COI) and technology transfer (TT) offices as a critical factor in the effective management of ICOI and suggested several strategies to strengthen coordination between these offices. These findings suggest that academic research institutions could strengthen COI programs by taking measures to improve communication and information sharing between COI and TT offices.
人们一再呼吁学术机构制定政策和程序，以管理技术转让活动所产生的机构利益冲突（ICOI）。虽然先前的研究已经考察了医学院校和大学对 ICOI 政策的采用情况，但对于这些机构在实践中如何处理 ICOI 知之甚少，这阻碍了制定循证建议以改善 ICOI 管理。为了解决这一差距，我们对 25 名负责学术机构研究诚信和利益冲突问题的高级管理人员进行了半结构化访谈。使用描述性定性内容分析方法对数据进行分析，采用灵活的编码方法对访谈数据进行索引，并对编码内容进行仔细检查、解释和综合。参与者确定利益冲突（COI）和技术转让（TT）办公室之间的沟通和信息共享是有效管理 ICOI 的关键因素，并提出了一些加强这些办公室之间协调的策略。这些发现表明，学术研究机构可以通过采取措施改善 COI 和 TT 办公室之间的沟通和信息共享来加强 COI 计划。
