ISMMS strongly believes in the importance of protecting whistleblowers from retaliation and addressing good faith allegations of such retaliation. Accordingly, the School affirms that it will adhere to any applicable policies and procedures promulgated by federal or other oversight agencies in dealing with such allegations. Whistleblower complaints or complaints of subsequent retaliation may be brought, as appropriate, to the School’s Faculty Relations Committee (see Faculty Handbook, Chapter III), Harassment Grievance Board (see Faculty Handbook, Chapter III), or Department of Human Resources, or Office of Compliance. Copies of the policies and procedures of the Harassment Grievance Board are available from the Office of the Dean, Reserve Section of the Levy Library, House Staff Affairs Office, the GSBS’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and Office of Student Affairs. Human Resources policies are available from the Department of Human Resources.
When submitting a manuscript for publication that includes data or ideas generated at Mount Sinai, students are expected to follow standard practices in the laboratory and/or department as well as the following Policy on Responsibilities of Authors and Data Retention.
Authors should ensure that a clear designation, delineation, and acceptance of authorship responsibility has been established. For more information, please review the institution policy on Authorship.
All original laboratory data books or journals, etc., from which a publication is derived, must be stored in the laboratory for a minimum of six years from the date of publication. If the senior author leaves the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount School before the six-year period elapses, he/she/they will be required to retain and make available, if requested, to ISMMS all these data until the completion of this minimum time period. In the case of large ongoing database related research, the responsible investigator must retain the pertinent mass data storage device (cloud, hard drive, tape, disk, etc., not necessarily in hard copy) containing the data on which a publication is based. The stored data can be used for verification of data, as well as the base for ongoing studies of the same project. In the latter instance, however, a clarifying statement that describes the nature and the composition of the reutilized and incremental data should accompany the publication. The data storage device cannot be reused for unrelated projects. Although it is understood that this rule governing database storage may not be appropriate in all situations, individual modifications must be approved by the Dean. For additional information, please click on the "Research Administration Offices" section in the chapter on Research in the Faculty Handbook.
As an academic institution, ISMMS has an obligation to assure that its students conduct scientific and clinical research pursuant to the highest standards of ethics, free from any improper external bias. At the same time, ISMMS encourages scientific collaboration with industry and supports collaborative research geared towards developing new and improved diagnostic and therapeutic products. ISMMS appreciates, however, that these economic relationships with industry have the potential for directly and significantly affecting the approval, design, conduct, monitoring or reporting of a research study. Situations can occur in which an independent observer might reasonably conclude that the potential for individual or institutional profit could influence the outcome of a research study. Even in the absence of an actual conflict of interest, such situations may require actions to minimize the appearance of a conflict. Therefore, to safeguard the academic integrity of both ISMMS and its investigators, the institution has adopted a rigorous conflicts policy predicated on full disclosure and appropriate management.
The Policy on Financial Conflict of Interest in Research sets out the requirements for disclosing potential conflicts of interest in research and specifies the procedures for reviewing such disclosures and determining what corrective measures, if any, should be instituted. Furthermore, this policy includes clinical trials that evaluate the safety and efficacy of a drug, medical device or treatment, and research on technology in which the Investigator/Covered Person and/or the Institution has an ongoing financial interest, to the most rigorous review and stringent conditions.
This policy is based on the standards set forth in the federal regulations governing research funded by the Public Health Service (PHS) or the National Science Foundation (NSF) (42 CFR Part 50 Subpart F) and the recommendations promulgated by the Association of Academic Medical Centers.
For more information, please review the complete ISMMS policy on Conflicts of Interest.