Detailed Rules on the Management of Conflicts of Interest

Established on November 20th, 2014
Revised on November 4th, 2015

Article 1, Objective

The detailed rules are determined to ensure the clarification of conflicts of interest in members’ activities, activity of the committee, and publishing in academic institution, and fulfill the responsibility of giving explanation to the society in order to maintain the integrity of this society, fairness and equality of the research of social medicine, promote appropriate research on social medicine in cooperation with industry, government, schools and return the profit of the results to the society.

Article 2, Subject

The members of the society
People who present in the lecture at the conference
Executives of the society (director and auditor), people in responsible for academic meetings and lectures (such as an institute president), chairperson and vice chairperson of each committee
Administrative staff of the society
People who contribute to the publication such as academic bulletins

Article 3, Subject Activities

This policy is applied to the following activities conducted by the society.

Academic meetings, lectures, and training meetings
Publication of academic bulletins and academic books
Conducting research and investigation
Holding committees and research meetings
Other business necessary to achieve the objective of this society

Article 4, Items and Standard to be Declared

If the following item 1 through 9 exceeds the standard determined in Article 5, the subject must declare the exact situation to the director of the society. Also, the method of disclosure and announcement of the content of the declaration is determined separately.

Being appointed as a board member or an adviser for a firm, corporate organization, or for-profit organization
Owning stock shares
Receiving patent royalty from a firm or for-profit organization
Receiving daily wages and lecturer’s fee from a firm or for-profit organization
Receiving manuscript fee paid for writing a pamphlet, article, and other writing by a firm or for-profit organization
Receiving research fund for contracted research or joint research provided by a firm or for-profit organization
Receiving scholarship and grant provided by a firm or for-profit organization
Endowed course provided by a firm and others
Other remuneration (travel, gift, and others that are not directly related to research)

Article 5, the Standard of the Self-declaration

For being appointed as a board member or an adviser for a firm, corporate organization, or for-profit organization (hereinafter referred to as a firm, organization, and group), the annual remuneration received from a firm, organization, and group is 1 million yen or more.
For owning stock shares, annual profit from stock shares in one firm (dividend and total profit for selling the share) is over 1 million yen or 5% or more of the total share.
For receiving patent royalty from a firm, organization, and group, one patent royalty is 1 million yen or more annually.
For receiving daily wages and lecturer’s fee from a firm, organization, and group, the total annual wage and lecturer’s fee received from one firm or organization is 500,000 yen or more annually.
For receiving manuscript fee paid for writing a pamphlet, article, and other writing by a firm, organization, and group, the annual manuscript fee received from one firm, organization, and group is 500,000 yen or more.
For receiving research fund for contracted research or joint research provided by a firm or for-profit organization, the annual amount of research fund paid by a firm, organization, and group is 1 million yen or more.
For receiving scholarship and grant provided by a firm or for-profit organization, annual amount paid to the reporting individual, the department (course or field) the reporter belongs to, or the representative of the research lab is 1 million yen or more.
For endowed course, the reporters belong to the endowed course that a firm or other organization provides.
For other remuneration such as travel, gift, and others that are not directly related to research, the annual amount received from one firm, organization, and group is 50,000 yen or more.
Anything that is received from a tobacco company or tobacco related company must be declared regardless of the monetary amount.

Article 6, Implementation Method

The role of the director
The director must have discussions with the board of directors and establish a committee related to the management of the conflicts of interest (hereinafter referred to as conflicts of interest management committee).
The obligation of the board members
Executives of the society (director and auditor), people in responsible for academic meetings and lectures (such as an institute president), chairperson and vice chairperson of each committee (editorial committee, ethical committee, conflicts of interest management committee), and administrative staff of the society have important role and responsibility for all the operation related to this society, and the situation of conflicts of interest related to the applicable operation is declared by themselves in the specified format for a year before the appointment and annually after the appointment. Also, if new conflicts of interest arose after the appointment, revision must be declared immediately. The situation of conflicts of interest that must be disclosed is limited to the ones related to the firm and organization that conduct business with the society.
The obligation of the members
If a member presents in an academic lecture in the society or make presentation using the name of this society, the situation of conflicts of interest related to the applicable research must be disclosed appropriately in the specified format at the time of presentation. When doing so, they must sufficiently understand that having multiple attachments from different standpoints can cause critical conflicts of interest and the society is interested in it and disclose about the applicable research.
The obligation of the person in charge for academic meetings and lectures
When the results of a research are presented, the person in charge for an academic meeting and lecture must verify that the implementation of the research follows the objective of the detailed rules of the common guideline. If it deviates from it or there is a suspicion of deviation, the lecture must be instructed for revision, or prohibit or cancel the presentation. In this case, the presenter must be immediately notified with the reason. Also, if those measures are taken, the person in charge indicated above must make a report to the conflicts of interest management committee.
The obligation of the contributors to the academic bulletins
The contributor to the publications, such as an academic bulletin for the society, must follow the regulation and declare it correctly, and follow the instruction of the editorial chairperson.
The obligation of the editorial chairperson
When research results are published in a publication, such as an academic bulletin, the editorial chairperson must verify that the implementation of the research follows the objective of the detail rules of the common guideline. If it deviates from it or there is a suspicion of deviation, the article must be instructed for revision, or prohibit or cancel the publication. In this case, the contributor must be immediately notified with the reason. If it is clarified that the research deviated from the common guideline or the detailed rules after the thesis is published, the applicable publication must be announced by the editorial chairperson and take measures such as cancellation of the thesis. Also, if those measures are taken, the editorial chairperson must make a report to the conflicts of interest management committee.
The role of the conflicts of interest management committee
In all operation in this society, if a critical condition of conflicts of interest is occurred or there is a doubt that the self-declaration of conflicts of interest is pointed out to be in appropriate, or the person in charge of the academic meetings and lectures reported the matter, or the editorial chairman reported the matter, the conflicts of interest management committee must investigate the situation of the conflicts of interest for the concerned party by interview and other method, and report the results.
The role of the board of directors
The board of directors must respond appropriately based on the report of the conflicts of interest management committee.
The role of others
The chairperson and vice chairperson of each committee, the chairperson of the academic meeting for the applicable year must verify that the operation follows the objective of the detail rules of the common guideline. If it deviates from it or there is a suspicion of deviation, they must discuss the countermeasure to the situation immediately.
Obligation of Confidentiality
People who are involved in conflicts of interest management cannot disclose the confidential information acquired through the process without valid reason. It is applied after they are no longer in that position.

Article 7, Measures for the Violator

If there is a deviation as a result of discussion in the committee based on the report from the conflicts of interest management committee, the board of directors can take the following measure or portion of the measure for the violation for a set period of time.

Prohibition of presentation in all lectures held by the society
Prohibition and cancellation of the publication of the thesis in all publication issued by the society
Prohibition of the appointment to the board member of the society, chairperson and vice chairperson of each committee, chairperson of the academic meetings and lecture, and termination and dismissal from these positions
Suspended from attending the board of directors and committee of the society
Termination and dismissal of the membership of the society or prohibition of registration

Article 8, Appeal or Filing of an Objection

The person to whom the measure is taken can appeal or file for an objection. If the director of the society accepts the objection, they must immediately establish an evaluation committee for the objection, evaluate the matter and discuss the report with the board of directors, and notify the result to the person who filed the objection.

Article 9, Accountability

If the society evaluated that there is a critical violation of this policy in the research results presented in the field where the society is involved, they are held accountable for the society after the discussion in the board of directors.

Article 10, Establishment of Supplementary Provision

The society can establish supplementary provisions necessary to manage these detailed rules.

Article 11, Revision of the Detailed Rule

These detailed rules can be revised after it is discussed in the board of directors.

Supplementary Provision

Article 1 (Date of Enforcement)

These detailed rules are enforced from November 20th, 2014.
These detailed rules (revised) are enforced from November 4th, 2015.