Research Policies

Excellence in research is achieved through a collective process energised by the faculty and students of a university. The AKU faculty and students are committed to pursue their task by working within a framework based on high sets of ethical principles. 

The research activities are steered and regulated through guidelines which ensure protection against violations of human rights and misrepresentations of data whether intentionally or unintentionally. All research work should maintain high standards in terms of integrity, responsibility and without prejudice to any ethnic or religious group.

In order to preserve the University's reputation for high standards of scholarly integrity AKU has developed policies that define offenses like fabrication of data, plagiarism, abuse of confidentiality, dishonesty in publication, intellectual property violations, claim to authorship and contribution and research misconduct and how to address them.

The policies undergo robust review from time to time and approved by the University Research Council.

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Financial Policies and Procedures for Extramural Grants

The Aga Khan University recognizes extramural grants as an important source of funding to support research, academic programmes and student sponsorships. The policy and related procedures have been prepared to provide Standard Operating Procedures related to financial monitoring of extramural grants. 

  1. AKU-Wide Financial Policy and Procedure for Extramural Grants​


Guidelines concerning National Institutes of Health (NIH) Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) Policy​​

The FCOI Guidelines is aligned with NIH Grant Policy Statement 42 CFR 50.601,  and summarizes FCOI regulation to promote objectivity in research by establishing standards that provide a reasonable expectation that the design, conduct, and reporting of research funded under NIH grants or cooperative agreements will be free from bias resulting from Investigator FCOIs. 

The FCOI Guideline is applicable to all AKU Entities applying for, or in receipt of, funding through NIH contracts, grants or cooperative agreements. It includes funding awarded directly to AKU by NIH itself or its Institutes or indirectly, where AKU is (or receives funding from) a sub-awardee or sub-contractor.