Textbook Author Conflict of Interest Policy
Purpose
To mitigate conflicts of interest related to required or recommended textbooks edited or authored by UCSF School of Medicine faculty members.
Overview
In addition to syllabi and on-line course information, courses and clerkships may designate required and recommended textbooks. UCSF faculty members may be the primary editors or authors of such textbooks and may receive royalties from their sales. It would be counterproductive to forbid the requiring or recommending of any textbook edited or written by UCSF faculty, because in some cases these textbooks may be the best resource for promoting students’ learning, and these textbooks often are included in the set of full on-line textbooks licensed by the UCSF Library, which is a benefit to students. At the same time, courses and clerkships should provide transparency regarding these matters to students and seek to mitigate potential financial conflicts of interest.
Principles
- Students should have access to highest quality learning resources.
- Faculty of record have liberty to require or recommend textbooks for courses or clerkships.
- Faculty who write or edit textbooks from which they receive royalties from sales should carefully and objectively consider the appropriateness of requiring or recommending their textbook.
- When a faculty-authored or edited textbook is required or recommended, this should be communicated transparently.
Policy
- Courses and clerkships are expected to routinely review required and recommended textbooks for continued relevance.
- For required or recommended textbooks that are edited or authored by course or clerkship directors, and for which course or clerkship directors may receive royalties from textbook sales, courses and clerkships must undertake both of the following two procedures to minimize financial conflicts of interest:
- The course or clerkship will designate one or more closely related alternative textbooks to the one edited or written by a UCSF faculty member so that students can choose not to purchase or use the one edited or written by a UCSF faculty member; and
- Upon initial listing, and then every two years, the course or clerkship will undertake a formal review of at least one alternative to the textbook edited or authored by a UCSF faculty member. If the textbook edited or authored by the UCSF faculty member is chosen as the primary required or recommended textbook in a particular discipline, then the course or clerkship will present to the Curriculum Executive Committee for discussion and approval.
- To maintain transparency about required or recommended textbooks edited or authored by members of the UCSF faculty, lists of required and recommended textbooks will indicate those edited or authored by members of the UCSF faculty and provide a link to this policy.
Accountable Dean or Director: Associate Dean for Curriculum
Approved by and date (initial version): School of Medicine Curriculum Committees, May 2013
Last Updated: February 2025, CCEP
