Research Misconduct

Research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification, and/or plagiarism that seriously deviates from the commonly accepted practices in the relevant scientific community for proposing, performing or reviewing research, or in reporting research results (i.e. publications, grant submissions, presentations).

Research misconduct does not just happen. It is a slippery slope of bad behaviors. Bullying, discrimination and harassment in the research context is also research misbehavior.

What are other research misbehaviors? Examples include not getting informed consent, not admitting missing data, gifting authorship, not attributing other authors, not disclosing conflict of interests, failing to conduct an adequate literature review, ignoring outliers without admitting, or not including data on side effects in clinical trials. Although these behaviors are not considered research misconduct, they can contribute. 

Request an ethics consult if you have questions or concerns.

Caren J. Frost, PhD, MPH

801-581-7170
caren.frost@socwk.utah.edu 
researchintegrity@utah.edu

For anonymous reporting:

www.ethicspoint.com

1. Type in University of Utah
2. Choose University of Utah
3. Please review categories for reporting
4. To make a report, click XXXX

Remember, what would  do?

Institutional Conflict of Interest

The Institutional Conflict of Interest (ICOI) policy addresses institutional conflicts of interest in the conduct of human subjects research [7-006]. The policy is designed to identify two types of institutional conflicts, those arising from:

• University of Utah's financial interests such as intellectual property rights, ownership in companies, and gifts or donations made to the University.
• External financial relationships of senior leaders or authorities at the University who may be in a position to influence the conduct of human subjects research.

The Institutional Conflict of Interest Policy requires that campus leaders disclose their external “significant financial interests” on an annual basis. A “significant financial interest” is defined in the Individual Conflict of Interest policy.

Potential ICOIs will be managed through the University Conflict of Interest Committee in collaboration with the Institutional Conflict of Interest Officer.

Please contact the Vice President of Research if you have any questions or concerns about the ICOI policy.