Anyone who is involved in the design, conduct or reporting of research at, or under the auspices, of any PHSA Programs, Service, or PHSA affiliated research entity, including:
- Full-time and part-time university faculty members and staff members of a PHSA affiliated academic institution
- PHSA employees
- Members of medical, dental, midwifery, nursing and professional staff
- Research associates, research assistants, research nurses, technologists, and students
- Clinical trial leads and team members
- Individuals who are engaged in externally and internally funded research or unfunded research and any research that requires research ethics board (REB) approval
- Students who have a conflict to declare or who receive funding from the National Institutes of Health
You are required to submit a declaration form every year and within 30 days if there are changes to your:
- Role, responsibility, or research
- Financial or external interests
The date you submit the Conflict of Interest Declaration Form becomes your anniversary date. Unless a change comes up in the meantime, you will need to submit again at the same time each year. You will receive an email reminder in advance to when your Conflict of Interest Declaration Form is due.
Access the PHSA Conflict of Interest Declaration Form at http://coi.phsa.ca/Researcher/
- Network Access: You must be connected to a health authority/research institute network to access the COI declaration.
- First Time Users: Follow the instructions for logging on, using the format provided on the COI Declaration form website. You will be prompted to fill out your department and contact information when setting up your account.
- Returning Users: Select "Amend" to update your Conflict of Interest Declaration Form. You can also view your previously submitted declarations. If you don't see an "Amend" button, contact researchadministration@phsa.ca.
- University-affiliated Researchers: If you already submit an annual conflict of interest declaration to your university, you can upload a copy directly to the PHSA Conflict of Interest Declaration Form.
If you hold a university appointment, you will likely be required to complete an annual conflict of interest declaration for your academic institution. PHSA manages a separate conflict of interest declaration process to ensure that university faculty members have a way to disclose conflicts related to PHSA responsibilities that are not captured in their university conflict of interest form. Examples could include:
- A researcher may hold stock in a pharma company and also provide advice to the C&W department on purchases, which may involve that pharma company
- A researcher may sit on the board of a pharma company that intends to provide funding for research to their BC Cancer clinical department
- A researcher is starting a spin-off company and wishes to recruit new staff, and knows that some research nurses (PHSA employees) may apply
Please note that PHSA’s
Research Conflict of Interest Policy should be read in conjunction with your affiliated university policies.
Researchers at PHSA are encouraged to collaborate and innovate to advance research and improve patient care. This necessarily might require relationships with outside institutions, industry, and individuals to commercialize discoveries or develop guidelines, clinical practice statements, or other knowledge translation materials. While these relationships and mechanisms provide effective methods of transferring research from bench to bedside, they also bring with them potential conflict of interests that must be considered from the outset.
If your Conflict of Interest Declaration indicates a real, potential or perceived conflict, you must include a plan for appropriately managing the conflict(s). Your plan should agree with the values and mission of PHSA, protect patient welfare, and make certain that your research outcomes are unbiased.
The
PHSA Management Plan Guidelines can help researchers identify and manage conflict of interests associated with outside interests such as start-up activities (e.g., financial, time commitment, resource use) and external relationships.
Ways to manage your conflict of interests could include:
- Restructuring the financial interest (e.g., reducing the value or postponing the payments)
- Prohibiting the licensing of Intellectual Property rights to an individual or industry that you have an interest in
- Modifying your role or responsibility with the financial interest or external relationship
- Eliminating the financial interest or external relationship (e.g., sale of an equity interest)
- Using an independent person to monitor the study
- Changing the research plan or your role in the research (e.g., eliminating interaction with human subjects or participation in data interpretation)
- For research projects involving human subjects research, disclosing financial conflicts of interest directly to participants
- Providing notification of the interest in publications, presentations, abstracts, and press releases
- Notifying colleagues, others on the study, members of committees and boards, students, and trainees of the interest
- Withdrawing from discussions that involve the individual or industry that you have an interest in
- Taking a leave of absence from your position at PHSA
- If you are declaring a real, potential or perceived conflict on your Declaration Form, your declaration and management plan will be automatically sent to a designated reviewer. After review, you will receive an email confirming the approval of your Declaration Form, or a request for additional information to amend your Declaration Form.
- If your conflict of interest declaration or management plan is rejected at any stage in the review process, you will need to revise your plan and resubmit for review. You can also appeal the reviewer's decision to PHSA's Research Conflict of Interest Committee. Submit any appeal requests to researchadministration@phsa.ca.
- If your Declaration Form does not include any real, potential or perceived conflicts, your form will be automatically approved. You will receive an email confirming approval of your Declaration Form. Please note that all Conflict of Interest Declaration Forms and associated management plans are subject to audit by PHSA's Research Conflict of Interest Committee.
- See Reviewers page for additional information.
