Significant Financial Interests FAQ

The U of I policy may be found at FSH 5600 “Financial Disclosures".

A significant financial interest disclosure is a disclosure that helps the university determine if a research project’s methods or results are at risk of bias by an investigator’s financial interests.

The disclosure is reviewed according to the process outlined in FSH 5600. If the Significant Financial Interest could significantly and directly affect the design, conduct or reporting of research, the university will coordinate with the investigator and put a management plan into place to mitigate the risk of bias.

A list of federal agencies that require SFI disclosures may be found here.

An investigator is someone responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research.

No. An investigator must also disclose SFI’s that are owned by family members. Family members are defined as the investigator, the investigator’s spouse and the investigator’s dependent children.

A “Significant Financial Interest” or “SFI” means any of the following financial interests (1) that reasonably appear to be related to the investigator’s institutional responsibilities and (2) is held by an investigator or family member:

1. Remuneration: payments received from a foreign or domestic entity other than U of I in the last 12 months and valued at $5,000 or more.
   1. Examples: salary, consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship, payments for services, etc.
2. Publicly Traded Equity Interests: Equity or other ownership interest in a foreign or domestic entity that is valued at $5,000 or more.
3. Non-Publicly Traded Equity Interests: Equity in a non-publicly traded foreign or domestic entity.
4. Intellectual Property Income: Income from the previous 12 months or projected income for the next 12 months that is related to Intellectual Property rights and interests and is $5,000 or more.
5. Foreign Talent Recruitment Program: Remuneration (such as salary, lab space and other tangible benefit) from participation in a Foreign - Government-sponsored Talent Recruitment Program (FGTRP) or intangible benefit from participation in a FGTRP.
   1. A FGTRP is an effort organized, managed or funded by a foreign government, or a foreign government instrumentality or entity, to recruit science and technology professionals or students (regardless of citizenship or national origin or whether having a full-time or part-time position).

No. A Significant Financial Interest is only disclosed if it is related to the investigator’s institutional responsibilities, including research proposed for funding by a federal agency.

The disclosure must be submitted electronically via the Vandal Electronic Research Administration System (VERAS). Instructions to submit an initial disclosure or annual disclosure are here.

The SFI disclosure must be updated annually for the life of a qualifying research project or within 30 days of a new SFI being discovered or acquired. A new disclosure is not required for every proposal submitted to a federal agency that requires the disclosure. But, a new disclosure is required for a proposal if the investigator’s work on the proposal gives rise to additional SFI’s that were not previously disclosed.

An investigator receives automatic email notices from VERAS when the disclosure is expiring. These notices are sent when the disclosure will expire in 30, 10 and zero days.