Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment

The Ball State Conflict of Interest/Commitment policy in the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook (section 38) states that employees have an obligation to disclose financial conflicts or perceived conflicts wherein the aggregate amount of dollars or support exceeds any amount from a foreign entity, or $5000 from a domestic entity, or wherein the individual is devoting more than 20% of their time (1 day per week) to an activity outside of the University. 

If you are obliged to complete a Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) for a proposed or awarded federally-funded research project, you will complete that disclosure using the FCOI Disclosure for Federally-Funded Investigators form.


If you are disclosing via a State of Indiana Disclosure Form, you will access that disclosure via the BSU/State of Indiana COI/COC Disclosure form, where you can download, sign, and upload the state form – the form will route to collect approvals from your VP/Dean as well.  Disclosures to the State of Indiana are mandatory if you are entering into a contract with Ball State due to services or products you offer the institution or if you are disclosing the use of a self-authored text in the classroom.


For questions, please contact Rachael Alaniz, Responsible Conduct of Research Officer, at 765-285-6510 or rsalaniz@bsu.edu. 

  • Read the State of Indiana's Conflict of Interest Policy.

  • For federally-funded researchers:

    • File your FCOI Disclosure for Federally-Funded Researchers here.


    For all BSU faculty and staff:

    • Those filing any of the following types of disclosures can do so here:
        • BSU Conflict of Interest
        • BSU Conflict of Commitment
        • State of Indiana Conflict of Interest 


    For those with no conflict to disclosure:

    • Those with no conflicts to disclose and would like this on file with the university can do so here.
  • Go to citiprogram.org
  • Click "Register"
  • There are seven registration steps. Select Ball State University as your "Organization Affiliation" Your username does not have to match your Ball State username and password. If you are earning CME/CEU credits by taking CITI Training be sure to check yes on Step 6.
  • The next page asks you to enter your institutional email address, department, and role in research. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
  • Next you will “Select Curriculum.” You can return to this page at a later date to take additional courses.
    • For Question 1, choose “I do not need to take Human Subjects Research courses at this time.”
    • For Question 5, choose “Not at this time.”
    • For Question 6, choose “Yes.”
  • After selecting your curriculum, you will go to the Main Menu. To get started, look under "Status" and click on the red "Enter."
  • You will go to the "Required Modules" page. Start with the "Integrity Assurance Statement" and continue through the modules. You do not have to complete the modules in order. You must pass all modules with an overall score of 80%. You can complete module quizzes as many times as necessary. When all modules are passed, you may print your completion report through the link "Print" in the Learner's Menu.