the entity that normally is supposed to determine whether an academic researcher’s conflict of interest can be managed

The entity that normally determines whether an academic researcher’s conflict of interest can be managed is the research institution itself , usually acting through a designated Conflict of Interest (COI) office or committee, often in coordination with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human- subjects research.

Who Makes the COI Decision?

In most universities and research hospitals, the decision is not left to the individual researcher but is made by institutional bodies, such as:

• A Conflict of Interest in Research Office or equivalent compliance office that collects and evaluates disclosures.

• A COI committee that reviews significant financial or other interests and decides if they can be eliminated, reduced, or managed through a formal plan.

• The Institutional Review Board (IRB), which has final say on whether research involving human subjects can proceed under specific conflict‑management conditions.

Across policies, the consistent principle is that the institution (via these bodies) is responsible for determining if the conflict is manageable and for imposing any necessary management plan, not the individual researcher or sponsor.

TL;DR: In academic settings, it is typically the institution’s COI office/committee , often together with the IRB for human-subjects studies, that decides whether a researcher’s conflict of interest can be managed.