The disclosure from requests that the researcher disclose whether the annual income from the outside company is above or below $10,000, the basis for the payments, the nature of ownership interest, the value of ownership interest and the percentage of ownership.
Halperin says the committee will look at all forms on which the income exceeds $10,000 and decide if the committee needs more information.
If the committee determines that there is a conflict of interest, Halperin says, it will recommend to the investigator that he or she take certain steps to manage the research project or financial interest.
"We may decide that the conflict of interest is so severe that the investigator would have to divest the financial interest, or we may decide that the conflict of interest can be adequately dealt with simply by public disclosure," Halperin says.
But Halperin says the forms apply only to those professors receiving NSF or NIH funds and not to all faculty.
Before this year, FAS regulations required professors or staff members to notify relevant officials if there was a potential conflict of interest, according to Halperin.
"If there is a potential conflict of interest, then there is a Committee on Rights and Responsibilities which will look into potential conflict of interest and will decide whether something has to be done," Halperin says.
These regulations remain in effect for many of the professors within the FAS, he says.
Medical School regulations generally do not allow professors to perform clinical research on a drug that is contractually obligated to a company in which the professor or anyone in the professor's family holds stock or has a financial interest, according to the Medical School's "Faculty Policies on Integrity in Science."
A professor is also not allowed to accept research money from a business in which the professor or anyone in the professor's family holds stock or has a financial interest.
Certain exceptions to these regulations allow a professor to perform the above actions with the approval of the Dean of the Medical School and the Medical School's standing committee on conflicts of interest and commitment.