Bias, or the appearance thereof, can be extremely detrimental to research integrity. It can erode the public trust in the research enterprise if not addressed in a transparent manner. The institute will abide by the following ethics:
Set up a watchdog management team to protect the rights of not only research subjects, but public trust, safety, and welfare and reduce or minimize bias in every aspect of the research from the design, data collection, analysis and reporting.
Avoid a conflict of conscience, which comes about when a person has personal convictions that may jeopardize their objectivity in the research.
Promote objectivity in research by ensuring that research is free from bias due to individual researchers’ conflict of interest including the following factors:
The term “significant financial interest” means anything of monetary value, including, but not limited to, salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees or honoraria); equity interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interests); and intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights and royalties from such rights).