A formal appointment in which a researcher holds simultaneous positions at their primary institution and a foreign institution, each with defined roles, time commitments, and supervisory relationships.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A PI discloses an honorary professorship at an overseas university involving an estimated two weeks per year of activity.
Is an instance
A researcher's substantive joint appointment with a foreign laboratory is reviewed and a management plan is implemented.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
An invitation to deliver a one-off keynote lecture abroad is not a joint appointment.
Not an instance
Co-authorship with an overseas colleague does not, by itself, constitute a joint appointment.

Editorial commentary

Foreign joint appointments range from honorary or visiting positions with negligible time commitments to substantive dual employment with separate laboratories, students, and intellectual property obligations. Disclosure of all joint appointments is required in current and pending support, NIH Other Support, and most national equivalents. Substantive joint appointments raise potential conflicts of commitment and require institutional review. Some funder policies require institutions to manage or terminate appointments that conflict with grant obligations.

References

NIH NOT-OD-21-073 (2021); NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance (2022).

Also known as

foreign joint appointment · dual affiliation

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Joint appointment (foreign)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/joint-appointment-foreign" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/joint-appointment-foreign",
  "name": "Joint appointment (foreign)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/joint-appointment-foreign",
  "description": "A formal appointment in which a researcher holds simultaneous positions at their primary institution and a foreign institution, each with defined roles, time commitments, and supervisory relationships.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-security#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/joint-appointment-foreign",
  "sameAs": [
    "foreign joint appointment",
    "dual affiliation"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:53",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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