Conflict of interest policy

To avoid conflicts of interest in the grant review process, the Swedish Research Council has established strict internal guidelines. The Council aims to prevent situations involving even a “borderline" conflict of interest.

Occasionally, a controversy arises about research funding bodies that seem to favour certain researchers, or about grant reviewers that support researchers who are associated with them in some way. This erodes public and decision-maker confidence in research and research findings. To avoid such situations, the Swedish Research Council has placed the “conflict of interest" issue high on its agenda. Strict internal guidelines have been adopted, specifying how to avoid situations involving potential conflicts of interest at the Swedish Research Council.
 
As a state authority, the Swedish Research Council is subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The Act, however, is a general document that covers all public authorities. The Swedish Research Council differs from other authorities in that the majority of members on the Council´s decision-making bodies are chosen by the same community of researchers affected directly by the Council´s decisions to allocate research funds.
 
Every reviewer is required to disclose any conflict of interest related to the grant applications that he or she is asked to review. If a conflict of interest exists, another reviewer will be appointed. Obviously, the same applies to members of the higher decision-making bodies, i.e. the Governing Board and the Scientific Councils.

Evaluation panel members (including the chair) are not allowed to be involved in submitting applications that the panel itself processes. In such an event, either the evaluation panel member or chair must step down from the evaluation process for the year, or another evaluation panel must process the application. As regards other conflicts of interest, the person with any such conflict must leave the room while the issue is being addressed. Conflicts of interest are documented in a special conflict-of-interest record.
 
Potential conflict of interest situations require constant vigilance and awareness of how different types of relationships might influence one´s ability to deal with a matter impartially. It is difficult to formulate guidelines that are comprehensive, practical to implement, and accurately identify situations where a conflict of interest actually exists. Hence, the review process of the Swedish Research Council is designed to give maximum capacity to the grant review committees to prevent not only the obvious, but also any borderline or “sensitive" conflict of interest situations. Although it is the individual´s responsibility to report a conflict of interest, the review committees and the secretariat must also be vigilant.
 
Examples of situations that create a potential conflict of interest include: the reviewer is affiliated with the same institution as the applicant; the reviewer has recently worked in close collaboration with the applicant; antagonism or competition exists between the reviewer and the applicant.