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Bias and Conflict of Interest
Committee members serve as individuals, not as representatives of organizations or interest groups. Each person is selected on the basis of his or her expertise and good judgment, and is expected to contribute accordingly to the study.
The credibility of a report can be weakened if the committee that produced it is perceived to be biased. Potential sources of bias and conflict of interest are significant issues that are taken into consideration in the selection of committee members and are re-examined periodically throughout the study.
Recognizing that each individual who is knowledgeable about a subject brings his or her own biases and experiences to any study effort, the institution has adopted specific procedures to achieve appropriate balance in the committee membership and to avoid conflicts of interest. At the time of appointment, each committee member is required to list all professional, consulting, and financial connections, as well as to describe pertinent intellectual positions and public statements by filling out a confidential form, "Potential Sources of Bias and Conflict of Interest." The committee appointment is not finalized until The Academies completes a review of information regarding potential conflicts of interest and bias.
As part of the process of becoming acquainted with each other and with the task before them, committee members discuss this information in closed session at the beginning of their first meeting and annually thereafter. The information also is reviewed by officials of the institution, and if a potential conflict becomes apparent--which is rare--the committee member may be asked to resign. In exceptional circumstances, an individual may continue to serve on the committee if the conflict of interest is promptly and publicly disclosed, and The Academies have determined that the conflict is unavoidable. To fulfill our legal requirement for such public disclosure, The Academies post on their Web site a brief statement describing the unavoidable conflict. When a question of balance arises, the usual procedure is to add members to the committee to achieve the appropriate balance.
Committee Deliberations
A successful report is the result of a dynamic group process, requiring that committee members be open to new ideas and innovative solutions, and be willing to learn from one another.
Committees are expected to be evenhanded and to examine all evidence dispassionately. Although all interested parties should be heard and their views given serious and respectful consideration, one of the committee's primary roles is to separate fact from opinion, analysis from advocacy. Scientific standards are essential in evaluating all arguments and alternatives.
Most committees eventually issue a unanimous report of their conclusions. Members of committees should strive for consensus, but not at the cost of substantially weakening their analyses and conclusions. It may be more valuable in the long run to explain the rationale behind areas of disagreement than to issue unanimous conclusions that are so limited that they fail to contribute to a better understanding of the issue.
Writing the Report
Experience suggests that completing the consensus-building process and writing a report which clearly presents the committee's findings, conclusions, and recommendations are the most difficult, frustrating, yet rewarding aspects of serving on a study committee. The report may well become an important reference for those who formulate public policy. For this reason, the value of a carefully prepared report cannot be overstated.
Although each committee may go about the drafting of its report differently, every report is the collective product of a group process. A committee member often will draft a chapter or portion of the report, but the "author of record" is the entire committee, and the responsibility for authorship lies with the committee as well. Individual authorship generally is not credited; the report and all copyrights become the property of the The National Academies.
Role of Staff
Each committee is assisted in its work by highly qualified staff members who facilitate the work of the committee during the conduct of the study. When committee and staff form a close professional partnership, the experience can be exhilarating for everyone involved.
Staff help to create the objective atmosphere in which the committee's deliberations take place. In addition, staff are responsible for ensuring that institutional procedures and practices are followed throughout the study, and that the study stays on schedule and within budget.
Staff members assist with many aspects of assembling the report, including researching, writing, integrating portions written by others, and ensuring consistent style and format. However, the conclusions and recommendations are those of the committee. Staff do not insert their personal conclusions or recommendations into the report.
Confidentiality
During more than a century of service, the institution has earned a reputation for providing independent, expert advice. Procedures and practices have evolved that protect committees from outside pressures and thereby safeguard the credibility and integrity of their work.
Committee meetings, particularly as the committee gathers information, are frequently open to interested individuals and the news media. However, meetings are closed when the committee is deliberating to develop its findings and during discussion of financial and personnel matters. Closed meetings are not open to the public or to any person who is not a committee member or an official, agent, or employee of The National Academies.
Reports are the product of the institution, not of the committee alone. Committee deliberations, drafts of the report in progress, tentative conclusions--all are confidential until a completed report passes through review and receives sign-off by the Report Review Committee and by the major unit responsible for the study. Committee members are expected to reject any requests for early briefings or interviews on the committee's findings, and to treat committee deliberations and draft products as confidential.
Public Access
Legislation passed in late 1997 protects The Academies from government control under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. But in doing so, it explicitly requires The Academies to ensure public access to committee activities.
For example, any meeting of a committee at which anyone other than committee members or officials, agents, or employees of the institution is present--whether in person, by telephone, or teleconference--is considered a "data-gathering committee meeting." Except as determined and approved in advance by The Academies, all data-gathering committee meetings are open to the public. Data-gathering meetings that involve committee consideration of classified, proprietary, or personal-privacy information, however, exemplify situations in which The Academies will not open the meetings to the public.
To facilitate the process of informing the public about a committee's work and enabling interested individuals to attend open data-gathering sessions, an advance announcement must be posted--preferably 14 days before the meeting--on the institution's Web site.
Data-gathering committee meetings should be regarded as on the record. Therefore, whether or not representatives of the media are in attendance, the chair of the meeting advises everyone present of the nature and purpose of the meeting. Statements of this type are necessary to help ensure that participants and observers do not misinterpret the purpose of the meeting, or prematurely interpret the discussion to be the positions of individual participants, the committee, or the institution.
To acquaint the public with the background of committee members, at the first data-gathering committee meeting the chair should ask each member of the committee to state briefly, in open session, those aspects of his or her background, experience, expertise, and previously stated positions that appear relevant to the functions to be performed by the committee. Committees also create opportunities that facilitate the gathering of as wide a range of views as possible, such as having a session for public comments at a data-gathering committee meeting or soliciting comments in writing or via e-mail from interested members of the public.
Within 10 days following a closed committee meeting, The Academies will post on its Web site a brief summary of the meeting, listing the committee members present, the topics discussed, and materials made available to the committee. This summary will not disclose the substantive content, conclusions, recommendations, discussion of draft reports, or any report review comments.
Next- Report Review
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Last Updated: 1/18/2006, 10:19 AM
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