IUPAC will follow a strict confidentiality policy. No data about the proposals, PIs and reviewers will be provided to a third party other than to the funding agencies involved in the program and that the identity of ad-hoc reviewers and panelists will remain confidential.
The review process will be subject to these conflict of interest considerations. An important aspect of this code is the avoidance of any conflicts between personal interests and the interests of the applicants. In the context of peer review of research proposals and final reports, a conflict of interest might arise, for example, if a reviewer has, or has had in the past, a close working relationship, financial or personal connections with any individual(s) in the academic department(s) or organization (or any collaborating company or body) from which a proposal originates. Such interests may be indirect and relate to immediate family members or any other persons living in the same household as the reviewer.
Such circumstances may include the following:
• Relatives, personal ties or conflicts;
• Close scientific collaboration, e.g., implementation of joint projects or joint publications within the past 4 years;
• Direct scientific competition with personal projects or plans;
• Close proximity, e.g., member of the same scientific institution or impending change of the reviewer to the institution of the applicant or vice versa;
• Teacher/student relationship, as for PhD and Postdoctoral advisors of a PI;
• Dependent relationship in employment during the past 3 years;
• Participation in ongoing or just previously concluded professorial appointment proceedings;
• Current or prior activity in advisory bodies of the applicant's institution, e.g., scientific advisory boards;
• Personal economic interests in the funding decision;
• Competitive relationship or common economic interests, e.g., common business management.
The acid test is whether a member of the public, knowing the facts of the situation, might reasonably think the judgment could be influenced by the potential conflict of interest.