Frequently Asked Questions

You need to complete an Immediate Family Waiver. An Immediate Family Waiver is a pre-approval request and is distinct from your disclosure profile. Please look for and click on the ‘Request Pre-Approval’ button on the left in the Disclosure Profile workspace, and then select ‘Immediate Family Waiver’ as the type of request. 

In RAMP COI, an Entity is an organization in which you have a personal interest, and/or for which you perform an outside activity The organization in which you have a Significant Financial Interest. 

Note: If you do not find your organization name in the (drop-down) Entity list, you can create a Write-In Entity. To do this, click the ellipsis (…) button under “If you cannot find the entity in the above list, enter the details here”. The Write-In Entity form allows you to add your organization name. 

You can update the information in your disclosure profile at any time, and you should update it whenever there is a change in your personal interests or outside actic w do I know if I have successfully updated my profile in RAMP? 

You will receive an email notification from RAMP notifying you that you have successfully disclosed in the RAMP system. 

Unfortunately, the old system is not able to transfer data to RAMP COI. RAMP COI also has additional features and questions if you have a financial interest to disclose. You are still able to access the old system in a read-only form, so if it would be helpful to reference your last disclosure you can do so at http://coi.gmu.edu. Once you have disclosed in RAMP COI, you will not need to disclose again until next year.

All benefited employees are required to submit an annual COI disclosure.  

• Investigators on sponsored projects are also required to disclose, for each sponsored project, whether any of their Significant Financial Interests are related to the project 

RAMP COI has several advantages over the old COI system, including: 

• Automated workflows for review and approval of disclosures 

• An integrated Disclosure Profile that accommodates both financial interest and outside activity disclosures (outside activity and conflict of commitment disclosures are not addressed in this FAQ)  

Smart forms will show you only those questions that apply to the type of disclosure you are making (e.g., equity, consulting, IP). You will maintain and update one Disclosure Profile that includes all your disclosures. There are no longer separate forms for SFI and project-specific disclosures. In lieu of a project disclosure, you will simply add a relatedness statement to each particular project associated with your Disclosure Profile.

Once everyone has transitioned over to RAMP COI, the old COI system will be converted to a view-only legacy system. You will still be able to access records of your previous disclosures, but you will no longer be able to edit them or submit new disclosures to the legacy system. 

Records from the old COI system are not being imported into RAMP COI. You will need to create new disclosures in RAMP COU for each active disclosure you have in the old COI system. 

No. Conflict of Interest disclosure requirements remain as described in University Policy 4001: Conflict of Interest. 

University Policy 4021: Outside Professional Activities and Conflicts of Commitment has been approved with an effective date of September 1^st 2023. Policy 4021 only applies to Instructional and Research Faculty who are covered by the Faculty Handbook. 

Resources such as videos and guides are located within RAMP in the COI module when the Help Center button is selected.  Additional resources are located in Mason Leaps. 

Yes, after your proposal has been submitted, a research certification will be created and if necessary, additional steps may need to be taken depending on what information is disclosed.

Submitted proposals with project disclosures in the old COI system will only need to be added into RAMP COI if and when an award is made. 

Email all questions and concerns to rampcoi.gmu.edu