Two national academic associations have called on US academic institutions to develop and implement rules that manage institution-wide conflicts of interest and refine rules that deal with conflicts among faculty of medical schools, teaching hospitals, and research universities.

The report, issued today (Feb. 28) by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Association of Universities (AAU), contains comprehensive guidelines for reporting and disclosing conflicts and managing institutional review boards that oversee human subjects research.

The report comes on the heels of a recent JAMA study that found most US medical schools lacking conflict of interest policies to deal with financial ties at the institutional level. It builds on previous guidelines issued by the AAMC, AAU, and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.