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BioTechniques
12/22/2011 Ansa Varughese
Going forward, Canada’s federal research agencies will publicly disclose the names of researchers who breach research conduct policies.

In an effort to be more transparent, three Canadian research agencies have launched a new policy to publicly disclose the names of researchers who engage in misconduct.

Earlier this month, these three research agencies—the Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—partnered to release the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research online. According to the new framework, researchers who falsify, change, destroy, or copy data; wrongly attribute authors; or demonstrate an undisclosed conflict of interest will have their names publicly disclosed.

RCR-Summary of the process.

“It’s been over a decade, or almost a decade, since the last version of the integrity policy was put in by agencies,” said executive director, Susan Zimmerman, of the Canadian Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research. “So it was time. Things evolve, issues emerge, and there was a desire to have both greater accountability and demonstrate that to the public.”
In addition to disclosing the name in misconduct cases, the agencies will also announce other details, including the institution where the researcher is currently employed and the nature of the breach.

“Privacy laws were seen as a constraint on that,” Zimmerman said.

To overcome those concerns, the agencies will obtain the researcher’s consent to reveal that information when they apply for funding. When a researcher is found guilty of misconduct, he will be required to correct the research, submit an apologetic letter to those affected, and possibly reimburse funds.

Furthermore, the framework provides a protocol for institutions on how to address allegations. In this protocol, the accuser’s name is to be confidential during the investigation, which will require notifications to all parties involved in the research.

The new framework is the result of 2 years of collaboration between these three agencies. During this collaboration, the agencies analyzed and compared research misconduct policies from around the world. Also, they appointed independent academics and experts called the Research Integrity Advisory Group to guide them in the framework’s development. The agencies published a final draft last summer that went into effect on December 5.

While the framework has only been implemented earlier this month, Zimmerman believes it has already helped to improve Canada’s research misconduct policies, and if more improvements are necessary, the agencies will be open to change.

“First, we have to see how the research community adapts to the policy, and through the use and implementation, we’ll be able to pinpoint perhaps areas for future improvement,” she said.