Research Policies

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute believes that integrity, responsibility, and accountability are essential to the search for truth that lies at the heart of the scientific enterprise. The policies governing research by Hughes investigators and scientists at the Janelia Farm Research Campus establish high standards for scientific and ethical conduct. They are also intended to ensure that our research furthers the public good and set forth guidelines for making research materials, tools, and publications widely accessible within the scientific community and beyond.

The Conduct of Science
Sharing Research Tools, Data, Software and Other Materials
Research Collaborations
Funding From Companies
Gifts From Companies
Confidentiality Agreements
Consulting
Intellectual Property and Licensing
Early Career Scientists
Human Subjects Research
Other Policies for HHMI Investigators

The Conduct of Science

Guidelines for Scientific Research

These guidelines describe general standards for conduct in research and scholarship. They are intended to establish a common understanding of expectations and responsibilities relating to research in the Institute's laboratories, thereby promoting the quality and integrity of the work and interactions in the laboratories and helping to prevent scientific misconduct.
Download the Policy (PDF 44kb, revised 03.28.2007)

Scientific Misconduct

As an organization dedicated to biomedical research in the public interest, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (the "Institute") expects that its scientists will conduct research and engage in related academic activities according to the highest scientific and ethical standards. The Institute’s commitment to these standards embraces the belief that integrity, responsibility, and accountability are part of the fabric of science. Scientific research is, ultimately, a cooperative endeavor based on the central principle of truth.
Download the Policy (PDF 72kb, revised 03.28.2007)

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Sharing Research Tools, Data, Software and Other Materials

Sharing of Publication-Related Materials, Data and Software

Publishing a scientific paper is a quid pro quo in which authors receive credit and establish priority in exchange for disclosure of their scientific findings. A responsibility of authorship is to make available materials, databases, and software integral to the publication so that others may validate or falsify the results and extend them in new directions . Indeed, the mission of HHMI is to move biomedical science forward, and broad dissemination of research tools and reagents created by its investigators very much supports that mission.
Download the Policy (PDF 64kb, revised 05.15.2007)

Short-form Materials Transfer Agreement
(Non-Profit Recipient)

Download the Form (PDF 24kb, revised 10.29.2009)

Research Tools

HHMI recognizes the importance of making research tools, also called research resources, available to the scientific community. For this reason, HHMI supports the National Institutes of Health guidelines on research resources, and will adhere to the following policy with respect to unique research resources arising in HHMI laboratories ("HHMI research tools"). This policy applies to HHMI laboratories at host institutions ("host-based laboratories) and to laboratories at HHMI's Janelia Farm Research Campus ("Janelia").
Download the Policy (PDF 48kb, revised 05.15.2007)

Public Access Publishing

This policy establishes the Institute's expectations relating to public accessibility of publications resulting from research in Institute laboratories. This policy applies to all Institute laboratory heads (i.e., Investigators and, at Janelia Farm Research Campus, Group Leaders and Fellows).
Download the Policy (PDF 64kb, effective 01.01.2008)
Resources in support of public access publishing

Materials Transfers

The sharing of biological and other research materials among laboratories is an essential aspect of scientific citizenship. In that spirit, HHMI expects its laboratory heads, and all members of the academic research community, to make such materials freely available for research use by other scientists, and to handle related requests expeditiously.
Download the Policy (PDF 148kb, revised 09.01.2009)

Short-form Materials Transfer Agreement
(Non-Profit Recipient)

Download the Form (PDF 24kb, revised 10.29.2009)

Long-form Materials Transfer Agreement
(For-Profit Recipient)

Download the Form (WORD 42kb, revised 06.01.2007)

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Research Collaborations

Research Collaborations

Collaborations of HHMI laboratories with colleagues at for-profit companies can also be very productive, yielding scientific advances that neither party could achieve alone. HHMI strongly encourages such collaborations as long as they are driven by scientific considerations and the company is making a direct and substantial scientific contribution of its own to the collaboration. A contribution of money is not a scientific contribution; as described in more detail in the policy on company-sponsored research, HHMI does not permit company-funded research in its laboratories.
Download the Policy (PDF 24kb, revised 06.26.2007)

Research Collaboration Questionnaire

Download the Form (WORD 68kb, revised 06.01.2007)

Research Collaboration Agreement

Download the Form (WORD 68kb, revised 06.01.2007)

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Funding From Companies

Company-Sponsored Research

HHMI laboratories may not accept any industry funding provided under terms that would specify the projects for which the funds must be used, give the funder special access to the laboratory's research results, or give the funder rights in intellectual property that may be developed in the laboratory, all of which are considered forms of company-sponsored research.
Download the Policy (PDF 20kb, revised 06.26.2007)

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Gifts From Companies

Gifts From Companies

HHMI permits its laboratories to accept unrestricted gifts from for-profit companies. To qualify as an unrestricted gift, the donor may not specify the projects for which the gift may be used, may not gain special access to the laboratory's research results, and may not make any claim on intellectual property arising in the laboratory as a result of the gift.
Download the Policy (PDF 20kb, revised 06.26.2007)

Corporate Gift Letter Acceptable to HHMI

Download the Form (WORD 44kb, revised 06.01.2007)

Corporate Gift Letter Acceptable to HHMI when Recipient is a Licensee

Download the Form (WORD 44kb, revised 10.01.2008)

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Confidentiality Agreements

Confidential Disclosure Agreements

A confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) is an agreement in which one or both parties agree to maintain certain information in confidence and use it only for specified purposes. CDAs may also be called non-disclosure agreements, secrecy agreements, or confidentiality agreements.
Download the Policy (PDF 61kb, revised 06.05.2007)

CDA-Proposed Collaboration

Download the Form (WORD 37kb, revised 06.01.2007)

CDA-Proposed Consulting

Download the Form (WORD 37kb, revised 06.01.2007)

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Consulting

Service to Non-Profit Organizations and Government Agencies

HHMI does not review consulting arrangements between laboratory heads or Senior Scientists and nonprofit entities or government organizations, provided that the arrangements (1) are not covered by a written agreement, or (2) are covered by a written agreement that includes only basic terms such as the scope of duties, time commitment, and the amount of any honorarium or other compensation.
Download the Policy (PDF 28kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Consulting for Companies

HHMI considers consulting activity to include nearly any service on behalf of a company, including service on a company's scientific advisory board (SAB) or panel; service as a member of a company's board of directors; service as a founder of a company; service in connection with litigation (for example as an expert witness); or giving a talk or seminar for a company.
Download the Policy (PDF 128kb, revised 02.10.2010)

Consulting Questionnaire

Download the form (WORD 86kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Start-up Company/Consulting Questionnaire

Download the form (WORD 93kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Model Consulting Agreement

Download the form (WORD 64kb, revised 09.16.2008)

Uniform Consulting Agreement Provisions

Download the form (WORD 45kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Uniform Consulting Agreement Provisions for Seminars, Conferences, and Talks

Download the form (WORD 40kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Uniform Consulting Agreement Provisions for Start-up Company Service

Download the form (WORD 56kb, 09.16.2008)

Uniform Consulting Agreement Provisions for Expert Witness Service

Download the form (WORD 36kb, 02.10.2010)

Uniform Consulting Agreement Provisions for Venture Capital/Investment Firm Service

Download the form (WORD 52kb, 09.16.2008)

Consulting and Equity Ownership in Start-Up Companies

HHMI considers a scientist's service as a founder of a company to constitute consulting for the company, and therefore to require prior approval by HHMI, even if there is no written consulting agreement in place. The founders of a company typically perform a range of services for the company, including advising the company on fund-raising and recruiting.
Download the Policy (PDF 32kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Calculation of Equity Ownership in Companies

Because HHMI employees who consult for for-profit companies are not permitted to own a significant equity interest in a company, it is important for Consultants to have a clear understanding of when they will be considered by HHMI to own an equity security.
Download the Policy (PDF 40kb, revised 04.10.2008)

Guidelines for Calculating Equity Ownership

Download the Guidelines (PDF 40kb, revised 04.10.2008)

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Intellectual Property and Licensing

Intellectual Property

As a medical research organization, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute ("HHMI") conducts scientific research in the public interest. HHMI has adopted this intellectual property policy to help ensure that inventions, discoveries, and other fruits of HHMI's research are made available for the benefit of the public, and that the associated financial costs and rewards are fairly allocated.
Download the Policy (PDF 56kb, revised 10.01.2007)

Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement

Download the Form (PDF 28kb, revised 12.31.2008)

Licensing by Host Institutions to Companies

This policy applies to the licensing to companies of intellectual property developed in HHMI laboratories at host institutions. Under HHMI's collaborative arrangements with its host institutions, the host institution is responsible for efforts to commercialize intellectual property developed in HHMI laboratories at the site.
Download the Policy (PDF 48kb, 05.21.2008)

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Early Career Scientists

This policy describes the application of HHMI's research policies and related guidance to those appointed by HHMI as Early Career Scientists.

As background, Early Career Scientists, like Investigators, are employed by HHMI and remain faculty members of their host institutions. However, an Early Career Scientist's HHMI appointment is for a non-renewable six-year term and is not transferable to any other institution. During the term of their HHMI appointment, Early Career Scientists may apply in any open competition for HHMI investigator positions, if they are otherwise eligible under the criteria set for the competition.
Download the Policy (PDF 80kb, 02.27.2009)

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Human Subjects Research

Human Subjects Research

This policy applies to all HHMI Investigators, and all HHMI employees in their laboratories, who are engaged in or are contemplating becoming engaged in human subjects research. Human subjects research includes research using human tissues or materials derived from human tissues, as well as research involving individuals who have consented to participate in a clinical trial or observational study.
Download the Policy (PDF 108kb, 07.08.2009)

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Other Policies for HHMI Investigators

The policies in this group apply to HHMI investigators only. The scientists at Janelia Farm are not subject to these policies.

Investigator Transfers

HHMI's expectation is that investigators will remain at the host institution at which they were initially appointed. However, any HHMI investigator who has completed a full initial term of employment with HHMI and been reviewed and reappointed for a full renewal term is eligible to request a transfer of an HHMI appointment.
Download the Policy (PDF 72kb, 09.01.2009)

Investigator Laboratories at Institutions Other than the Host Institution

HHMI believes that an Investigator's scientific program is generally aided by concentration of the Investigator's research activities in a single location, where these activities can be better managed and more effective. Similarly, concentration in a single location benefits an Investigator's non-research activities, including mentoring students and postdoctoral fellows and fulfilling responsibilities to the host institution. Accordingly, HHMI generally prefers that Investigators conduct their research program at a single host institution.
Download the Policy (PDF 92kb, revised 11.06.2007)

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