8 Rejected

Assess benefits of establishing an additional body to investigate research malpractice

Recommendation
The UK Government should assess the benefits that an additional body, set up to investigate malpractice, could bring to the UK’s research integrity governance architecture.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to assess creating a new body for investigating research malpractice, stating it is not the government's role and that primary responsibility lies with research organisations.
Paragraph Reference
61
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government Rejected
We do not accept these recommendations. 17. The Government should not be in the business of investigating research misconduct but should ensure it supports an effective research environment that can self- regulate and respond when misconduct is identified. 18. This needs to be addressed at a system-wide level and reproducibility should be one of a number of mechanisms to promote integrity. 19. In cases where there is intentional research misconduct (i.e. manipulating statistical results or falsification of data) the Government agrees that this should be taken extremely seriously. UKRI have published clear guidelines on what constitutes research misconduct and are responsible for ensuring that recipients of funding are aware of the requirements and reporting of research misconduct, and that these are openly stated. 20. Government does not accept the need for a new body to investigate misconduct cases. The primary responsibility is with the research organisation where the case has arisen. In addition, having established UKCORI in response to the Select Committee inquiry, time should be allowed to evaluate its role in raising attention and offering potential solutions to improve research integrity governance.
Addressee Bodies
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Timeline
Recommendation age 3.1 yrs
Report published 10 May 2023