Ka-ching!! Dealing with Financial Conflicts of Interest

Roger A. Pielke, Jr.
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research

Many atmospheric sciences professionals are overjoyed at the realization by industry and the public that their science has real economic value. Many atmospheric scientists have argued this for years, but today the difference is that a growing number of people outside the discipline agree. The first responses of the atmospheric sciences community to this dawning realization are evocative of actress Sally Field's speech upon winning an Oscar – "We have value! We really have value!"

But after the initial excitement wears off, there is a dawning realization that with relevance comes obligations. Among these obligations are questions of the actual size and distribution of societal benefits, a desire by policy makers and other stakeholders to shape research and development in directions that affect the sorts of benefits that actually occur, and a desire by those who expect to benefit to participate more fully in the process of research. Each of these new demands creates "growing pains" for those more familiar with operating under the rules of "basic research" – i.e., no expectation of direct societal benefits.

Another issue requiring attention is the potential for financial conflict of interest at the interface of research and commerce. As the fruits of atmospheric sciences research become increasingly valuable, the question is not if such a potential exists, but when and where and, more importantly, what to do about it. This is a sensitive topic because it involves money and money is often a difficult issue to discuss openly. Fortunately, other professions have grappled with this issue and have much to offer the atmospheric sciences in terms of experience and precedent.

In 1993, Harvard's Dennis Thompson defined conflict of interest in The New England Journal of Medicine:

A conflict of interest is a set of conditions in which professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as a patient's welfare or the validity of research) tends to be unduly influenced by a secondary influence (such as financial gain).

Thompson argues

The secondary interest is usually not illegitimate in itself, and indeed it may even be a necessary and desirable part of professional practice. Only its relative weight in professional decisions is problematic. The aim is not to eliminate or necessarily to reduce financial gain or other secondary interests (such as preference for family and friends or the desire for prestige and power). It is rather to prevent these secondary factors from dominating or appearing to dominate the relevant primary interest in the making of professional decisions.

The question to be addressed, then, is not whether the boundary between research and commerce should blur – it has and it will. Indeed, the United States has a long history of using policy to intentionally blur this boundary, using technology policies to stimulate economic growth via public support for research, development, and technology transfer. The question facing the atmospheric sciences instead is what policies and procedures to promulgate and implement given present trends in the discipline.

Consider the following hypothetical examples and ask yourself what potential conflicts may exist:

• A professor develops an observing system using the latest advances in nanotechnology that allows for comprehensive observations of the features of storms. She patents the technology (carefully following the appropriate University Intellectual Property regulations) and starts a company called MicroSee. Every sale of a MicroSee observing platform results in a financial gain to the professor. She is an advocate on scientific panels for using MicroSee technology to advance scientific understanding of storms and publishes widely in the discipline.

• A University meteorology department engages in a research partnership with Acme, Inc. The terms of the deal are that Acme, Inc. will invest $10 million in the department and the department will sponsor research that benefits Acme in particular. Acme will have ready access to research, data, and infrastructure that many of its competitors do not. As a result of the partnership, several faculty members in the department will have ample opportunities to consult for fees with Acme on their latest research results. The University's Acme-sponsored research is published in disciplinary journals.

• Leaders of a non-profit corporation sponsored exclusively by federal funds decide to aggressively accelerate the transfer of science and technology into commercial opportunities by capitalizing and spinning off a new company. In this case each of the individual participants has a financial stake in the new company, which is carefully created under the organization's existing intellectual property regulations that prescribe a split in realized gains between the researcher and the corporation. Each participant is in a position to influence the scientific priorities of the broader organization, of which only a sub-set is relevant to the new company.

• Using federal grants, a professor develops a meteorological model to predict the weather. The model's source code is in the public domain. The professor creates a consulting company to fine-tune the model and provide forecasts to paying customers. The professor relies on graduate students, working on authorized degree programs, to develop improvements to the model based on feedback from his consulting clients. The professor has access to datasets not generally publicly available, which enhance the relative value of the consulting services to his customers. The professor and his students routinely publish the results of their work in peer-reviewed journals.

In each of these hypothetical cases it seems pretty clear that there exists a potential for a financial conflict of interest, some involving individuals and some institutions. But it also seems pretty unclear as to what sorts of rules, regulations, and disclosures would make sense in each of these cases. Fortunately, since the mid-1980s several disciplines, the medical profession being the most prominent, have been engaged in discussion and debate about conflict-of-interest policies and procedures. (See the references listed below for discussion of some of these lessons.) We in the atmospheric sciences have much to learn from these debates.

As a first step, it would be worthwhile for the American Meteorological Society to establish a high-level committee to review these debates and determine what lessons are appropriate for the atmospheric sciences community to discuss and then adopt.

Dealing with potential conflicts-of-interest may seem to some like an unnecessary or invasive burden on a field that traditionally has expressed little concern over such things. Times have changed. As the atmospheric sciences have increased their actual value to decision makers, so too has the potential for conflict of interest increased. This is a healthy sign of a maturing science improving its connections with society. Maintaining scientific integrity in the atmospheric sciences likely requires a few prudent, proactive steps to ensure that public faith in our work continues.

For further reading:

Thompson D. F., 1993. Understanding Financial Conflicts of Interest. The New England Journal of Medicine, 329:573-576.

Krimsky, S. and L. S. Rothenberg, 2001. Conflict of interest policies in science and medical journals: editorial practices and author disclosures. Science and Engineering Ethics, 7:205-218.

Angell, M. and J. P. Kassirer, 1986. Editorials and conflicts of interest. The New England Journal of Medicine, 335:14.

– Roger A. Pielke, Jr.
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
University of Colorado, Boulder
pielke@colorado.edu

Comments? thunder@cires.colorado.edu

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