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Policies

Doing research at Stanford?

Stanford University's research landscape is wonderfully rich, but it is also complex and may be difficult to navigate. This section of DoResearch is intended to serve all Stanford faculty, staff and students, new and experienced, as a hub that organizes and provides access to the many laws, regulations, and policies that may be applicable to one's research, and to resources that enable research.

Research Policy Handbook

The Research Policy Handbook is a collection of policies, guidelines, and general information related to the research enterprise at Stanford.

Handbooks, Manuals, & Guides

Property Management Manual

The manual contains policies and business processes used for the control, care, custody, inventory, disposition, and financial reporting of capital equipment (referred to as “property”) owned and/or otherwise accountable to Stanford University.

Service Center Manual

Outlines policies on operating service centers that provide services essential to supporting the university's teaching and research functions. There are three types of service centers: Academic, Administrative, and Specialized.

Space Inventory

Stanford University uses the iSpace system to track the occupancy and use of all rooms in buildings on campus and in off campus buildings leased for use by Stanford organizations.

Additional Policy Resources

Administrative Guide

The Administrative Guide is Stanford's official manual for administrative policies. Contents include chapters on Organization, Personnel, Accounting, Gifts, Procurement, Computing and Services.

Faculty Handbook

The Faculty Handbook contains University policies and procedures that apply to those holding professorial appointments in the tenure line, non-tenure line, University Medical Line, as Senior Fellow at specified policy centers and institutes, Academic Staff-Teaching (Senior Lecturer, Lecturer, Artist-in-Residence), and Other Teaching Titles (acting faculty, consulting faculty, visiting faculty, and voluntary clinical faculty).

Graduate Academic Policies & Procedures

The Graduate Academic Policies & Procedures is a repository for University policies and other information related to the academic progress of Stanford graduate students.

Recent Policy Updates

  • July 14, 2026

    Institutional Conflict of Interest in Research Involving Human Subjects

    RPH 4.7 - Summary of Changes

    1. Sequestration of Royalties and Income. The previous version of the policy required sequestration of any royalty or equity revenue received by Stanford when Stanford is conducting human research on the same technology that was licensed to an external commercial entity. The updated policy allows for other management approaches tailored to the particular interests and risks of a given situation instead of an across-the-board sequestration of funds approach.
    2. Prohibition on Stanford Investments. The previous version of the policy prohibited investment in a commercial entity if Stanford is conducting human subjects research on a product of that company. The updated policy manages SMC investments through a "firewall" policy adopted by SMC to maintain separation of investment decision making. The policy also allows investment by the President’s Venture Fund or School investment funds with appropriate management as opposed to a prohibition on investment.
    3. Significant and Sensitive Human Health Data. The previous version of the policy was applicable only when Stanford is conducting human subjects research related to an institutional interest. The updated policy includes the exchange of significant and sensitive human health data with entities where Stanford or an institutional leader has a significant financial interest.
    4. Process for Identifying Institutional Leader Conflicts. The previous version of the policy required Center Directors, Department Chairs, Division Heads, Deans and VP level leaders to self-identify when they have an outside interest in an entity related to human subjects research being conducted at Stanford and report this to VPDoR. The updated policy creates a new process where potential Institutional Leader conflicts will be identified using data already available in Stanford systems, reducing the administrative burden on the Institutional Leader.
    5. Authority and Appeals. The previous version of the policy identified VPDoR as the official who recommends a management approach for ICOIs with the Provost serving as the deciding authority. The updated policy adopts an approach where the ICOI Committee will make recommendations to the VPDoR who is the deciding authority and introduces an appeal process for Institutional Leaders with the Provost identified as the final arbiter of a proposed management strategy.
    6. Reorganization and Language Clean-Up. The previous version of the policy included a significant amount of process language as opposed to policy requirements. This revision separates procedural aspects out from the key policy requirements as a separate document. In addition, policy sections were reorganized and edited for clarity.

  • January 28, 2026

    Operation of Unmanned Flying Vehicles

    The proposed revision removes the requirement for Unmanned Flying Vehicle (UFV) approval for faculty use of drones in off-campus field research.

View All Updates