Subject to certain limited exceptions, all regular faculty and university employees within the School of Medicine who desire to engage in outside work for compensation are required to obtain prior written approval from the University using the Request for Approval of Outside Professional Work for Compensation form (formerly 1460), an interactive PDF document. Detailed instructions for completing the form are found on the first page of the file.
As required by the UW Medicine Policy for Faculty on Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest with Commercial or Nonprofit Entities, if the outside work requiring prior approval includes compensation that has monetary value, that value should be disclosed on a supplement to the request for approval.
The request and supplement forms can be completed and printed but not saved. Faculty members who want to create their own customized templates must use Adobe Acrobat.
It is only necessary to submit the second page of the request for approval form if there are any “yes” answers to questions 19 through 28. Only the original of each form should be submitted. Members of the routing chain must make photocopies for their own files.
Both the request and the supplement are submitted first to the department chair. After review, the department forwards both forms to the Office of Regulatory Guidance in the Office of the Dean for approval by the School of Medicine. Review of the supplement ends in the dean’s office. Final action on the request occurs in the Office of Academic Human Resources.
Certain kinds of university and community service activities do not require prior written approval even though compensation in the form of an honorarium is paid. These limited exceptions are more fully described in the university's Outside Professional Work Policy.
All faculty activities must also be reported annually using the online Annual Report of Outside Activities (formerly Form 1461). The report must be submitted for all activities, even those that do not require prior approval. It must also be submitted when there is no activity of any kind to report.
For ease of reporting, faculty members are encouraged to start a report online at the beginning of the year and then add activities as they occur. On June 30, when the year has ended, the faculty member then finalizes and submits the report. Complete instructions are provided through an online tutorial.
Professional and classified staff who desire to engage in outside work that stems from, could conflict with or relates to the individual's official duties or status as a university employee must obtain prior written approval using Form 1301.
This form is submitted to the employee's immediate supervisor who forwards it to the employee's unit head (typically the department chair). The Director of Regulatory Guidance in the Dean’s Office grants final approval of requests on this form on behalf of the School of Medicine.
Conflict of Interest
All UW investigators participating in research involving UW facilities or resources or patients receiving care at the UW are subject to GIM 10, the UW's Significant Financial Interest Disclosure Policy.
As part of GIM 10, if any investigator has a significant financial interest related to the research, it must be indicated on the eGC1 and the interest must be disclosed using the Significant Financial Interest Disclosure Form (Exhibit 1 to UW's GIM 10).
The definition of a significant financial interest is different for clinical trials, which has a zero threshold. In addition, the UW Human Subjects Review Committee Application has specific questions regarding investigator financial interests.
School of Medicine faculty are also prohibited from serving as an author on any publication in which ghost authorship has occurred. Review the Ghost Author Policy for more information.