PIs Can Now Request Early Review of NIH COI Disclosures

The current process for review of complete positive financial disclosures for new National Institutes of Health proposals by the Conflict of Interest (COI) Committee has been to conduct that review at the time a Just-In-Time (JIT) request arrives from NIH. As JIT is generally some indication that the project may be funded, review at this juncture alleviated some of the burden on the COI Committee for review of all NIH positive disclosures at the proposal stage, when a significant percentage of those proposals are not funded. For funders that do not have an equivalent JIT process (e.g., NSF) review of complete disclosures has always been conducted right after the proposal is submitted. However, beginning on June 20, the COI Committee will conduct early review for new NIH projects with complete positive financial disclosures, at the request of the Principal Investigator. Any request for early review should be sent to researchcoi@berkeley.edu.