We are excited to announce IAFNS’ updated Guiding Principles for Funding Food Science and Nutrition Research, published in The Journal of Nutrition !

With the limited availability of funds from federal agencies, nongovernmental sources of funding - including industry - play a critical role in offering new opportunities for advancement and innovation in food and nutrition research. While bias can present itself in a multitude of ways, with no person, entity, or sector free from its grasp, these updated Guiding Principles serve as a tool that funding organizations can use to protect the integrity and credibility of the scientific record from the potential influence related to funding source.

The updates to these Guiding Principles strengthen guardrails that separate the funding from the science, reflect the shift in the scientific community towards open science, and provide greater transparency on interactions between the funder and investigator.

The updated Guiding Principles state that in the conduct of public-private research relationships, all relevant parties shall:

  1. Conduct or sponsor research that is factual, transparent, and designed objectively; according to accepted principles of scientific inquiry, the research design will investigate an appropriately phrased hypothesis and/or question, rather than favor a particular outcome.
  2. Require that the control of the study design, the research itself, and the interpretation of findings remain with scientific investigators.
  3. Neither offer nor accept remuneration geared to the outcome of a research project.
  4. Prior to the commencement of studies, ensure that there is a written agreement that the investigative team has an obligation to attempt to publish the findings within some specified timeframe and the freedom to choose the journal to which the work will be submitted.
  5. Require, in publications and conference presentations, full written or oral disclosure, as appropriate, of all relevant relationships (financial and non-financial).
  6. Not participate in undisclosed authorship arrangements in publications or presentations.
  7. Guarantee accessibility to all data and control of statistical analysis by investigators and appropriate auditors/peer reviewers; when possible, encourage the practice of open science, including depositing data and methodology in a public repository.
  8. Require that academic researchers, when they work in contract research organizations or act as contract researchers, make clear statements of all their affiliations; require that such researchers publish under the auspices of the contract research organization.
  9. Require, in publications and conference presentations, disclosure of whether the funder advised on the study design, conduct of research, and/or the development of the manuscript.

Read the full publication.

Watch a 5-min video of the updated Guiding Principles.

This work was supported by the IAFNS Assembly on Scientific Integrity.