Having financial interests, industry relationships and external business collaborations is common for investigators.  Following these five steps helps uphold research integrity principles:

1. Understand applicable policies.
   Maintain working knowledge of institutional, sponsor and federal policies. Stay up to date on training and requirements to ensure compliance.
2. Fully disclose all financial interests and outside activities.
   Promptly disclose all financial interests, business relationships and potential conflicts throughout the project lifecycle.
   Keep in mind, investigators are not expected to decide if a conflict of interest exists. Research compliance partners take care of that. The responsibility is to disclose.
3. Avoid involvement in contractual or financial approvals involving disclosed entities.
   Do not engage in contract, financial or procurement decisions and approvals involving entities with which you have a disclosed interest.
4. Maintain transparency in interactions with sponsors.
   Communicate financial interests or outside activities to sponsors to ensure alignment with institutional policies and research integrity.
5. Disclose relationships in publications and public presentations.
   When sharing research, clearly disclose relationships with external entities to support transparency and credibility.