Draft – Research Integrity Policy

This document is now open for consultation until Friday 26 April 2024

Please submit all feedback via the Draft – Research Integrity Policy Consultation qualtrix survey.

Application

This policy applies to all research staff, students, supervisors, and other researchers that are involved in the design and delivery of University research and related activities.

Note: Policy and procedures for investigations into potential breaches of this policy related to student research misconduct are in the Student Academic Conduct Statute. If an employee is both a staff member and a student, then the case will first be considered under this policy, and the processes in and provisions of this policy will be applied. The case will then be considered under the Student Academic Conduct Statute, and the processes in and provisions of that statute will be applied.

Purpose

To articulate the responsibilities of the University community for conducting research in accordance with the highest standards of research integrity. These responsibilities are designed to: ·

  • reflect the University’s purpose and values,
  • give effect to the University’s Code of Conduct,
  • enhance the impact of research by promoting trust and confidence in research practices,
  • promote good research practices, and
  •  raise awareness of research misconduct and questionable research practices (QRPs).

Policy

University responsibilities

The University is responsible for:

1. Developing and maintaining a Research Integrity Promotion Plan (RIPP) to foster a culture of research integrity and the responsible conduct of research.

2. Appointing Research Integrity Officer(s) to manage the implementation of this Policy and the RIPP.

3. Appointing Research Integrity Advisers to assist with the promotion of responsible research conduct and provide advice to researchers about adherence to this policy.

4. Providing research integrity training and support for staff, students and supervisors.

5. Supporting the responsible dissemination of research findings and where necessary, take action to correct the record in a timely manner.

6. Providing mechanisms to receive, investigate and resolve concerns or complaints about potential breaches of this policy.

7. Ensuring that allegations of research misconduct are managed in a fair, consistent and transparent manner, as detailed in the University’s Research Integrity Guidance.

Note: The Research Integrity Guidance will be developed after the consultation period based on the feedback received from the research community. The guidance will be published to the ResearchHub in a similar format to the Research Data Management Policy Guidance.

Researcher responsibilities

Research staff, students and other researchers are responsible for:

8. Attaining familiarity with, and adhering to, all laws, institutional policies, contractual obligations, ethical requirements, and other regulatory and compliance obligations that apply to the research and related activities.

9. Undertaking research activities in ways that reflect the University’s foundational relationship with tangata whenua and our shared commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

10. Obtaining all necessary institutional approvals as well as any required ethics committee and regulatory approvals prior to the commencement of research activities and ensuring that the conditions of such approvals are adhered to during and after the research activities.

11. Engaging with research participants, communities and collaborators in ways that reflect the University’s purpose and values, Code of Conduct and applicable University policies and procedures, including those relating to privacy and ethics.

12. Ensuring that any research involving animals is undertaken in accordance with applicable codes of conduct, ethics committee approvals and the University’s commitment to the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3Rs).

13. Only claiming a level of competence that is commensurate with attained qualifications, expertise, knowledge and skills

14. Ensuring that research is designed and conducted in accordance with University expectations for good academic research practices and applicable national and international standards and codes of practice for the field.

15. Sharing positive and negative research findings openly, honestly and accurately in ways that are compatible with the accepted norms of the discipline and facilitate verification or replication, where applicable.

16. Ensuring transparency in communications about the assumptions influencing the research as well as the robustness of the evidence, including limitations of the research and remaining uncertainties and knowledge gaps.

17. Giving proper credit to the original work and ideas of others and avoiding plagiarism.

18. Ensuring that errors or inaccuracies in published information are corrected in a timely manner once identified.

19. Ensuring appropriate recognition of authorship in publications as well as the acknowledgement of important work and contributions of those who do not meet the criteria for authorship, including collaborators and funders.

20. Participating in peer review processes by ensuring that research is subject to an appropriate level of peer review and by providing fair, prompt, rigorous and confidential evaluations when peer reviewing the work of others.

21. Undertaking relevant professional development to maintain knowledge and competencies, including any essential learning required by the University.

22. Supporting transparency and reproducibility in research by maintaining full and accurate records of research activities.

23. Ensuring the appropriate use and storage of research data in accordance with the Research Data Management Policy and Research Data Classification Standard.

24. Ensuring that risks associated with new research activities are assessed and managed, particularly where those activities involve sensitive data or restricted data.

25. Adhering to University policy and standards for using artificial intelligence (including Generative Artificial Intelligence) tools for research data and disclosing the use of such tools in publications and funding applications.

26. Disclosing and managing any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest in accordance with the University’s Conflict of Interest Policy.

27. Ensuring proper and conscientious use of research funds in accordance with funder and institutional requirements.

28. Avoiding any form of research misconduct, including plagiarism, fabrication and falsification, and avoiding putting others under pressure to engage in research misconduct.

29. Minimising all forms of questionable research practices (QRPs) that could compromise the integrity or reproducibility of the research.

30. Adhering to the requirements of research integrity or research misconduct policies of external institutions, as adopted by the University, where relevant to their research.

Note: This includes the United States Public Health Service (PHS) Policies on Research Misconduct.

31. Reporting any suspected breaches of this policy in accordance with the Research Integrity Guidance (link to be added).

Supervisor responsibilities

Supervisors are responsible for:

32. Ensuring all University policies and procedures relating to supervision of students are adhered to at all times.

33. Providing guidance and support to students on the application of this policy to student research projects, including research data management, research record keeping and authorship on publications, where applicable, and ensuring students undertake appropriate training as required.

Definitions

The following definitions apply to this document: 

  • Authorship has the meaning set out in the Authorship Guidelines
  • Conflict of interest has the meaning set out in the Conflict of Interest Policy and the Conflict of Interest Procedures and Conflict of Interest Guidelines.
  • Fabrication means making up data or results and recording them as if they were real.
  • Falsification means manipulating research materials, equipment, images, or processes, or changing, omitting, or suppressing data or results without justification.
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence has the meaning set out in the Generative Artificial Intelligence Usage Standard.
  • Plagiarism means using other people’s work or ideas without giving proper credit to the original source.
  • Questionable research practices (QRPs) include a spectrum of intentional or unintentional practices that may not fall within the definition of research misconduct but may still compromise the integrity of the research.
  • Related activities include engagement activities and routine standard practice such as data collection that does not meet the definition of research. 
  • Research has the meaning set out in TEC's Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) User Manual vs 5.0 (2022) (as updated from time to time). 
  • Research data has the meaning set out in the Research Data Management Policy.
  • Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:
    • Fabrication or falsification of data, including changing records or claiming results that have not been obtained;
    • Misrepresentation, including presenting material which is deceptive in itself, or where its use or presentation is deceptive;
    • Plagiarism, including the direct copying of textual material, the use of other people's data without acknowledgement and the deliberate use of published or unpublished ideas from other people without adequate attribution
    • A breach of a duty of confidentiality;
    • Failure to comply with any legislative or mandated ethical requirement;
    • Misleading ascription of authorship, including the listing of authors without their permission, attributing work to others who have not contributed to the research, and failing to acknowledge work primarily produced by a research student/trainee/associate;
    • Interference, including taking, sequestering or materially damaging any research- related material of another researcher without authorisation, including the apparatus, reagents, biological materials, writings, data, hardware, software, or any other substance or device used or produced in the conduct of research;
    • Failure to declare a real, potential or perceived conflict of interest;
    • Failure to obtain approval where required from, or to follow research protocols approved by, a research ethics committee or biological safety committee/approving agency;
    • Other serious misdemeanours in specific disciplines including breaches of relevant professional codes of practice and codes of ethics;
    • Other research practices which bring or are likely to bring the University into disrepute.
  • Research staff means all staff members employed to undertake research as part of their employment agreement with the University.
  • Researcher includes research staff, students, honorary appointees, adjunct appointees, visitors and contractors that undertake research at the University or using University resources, or otherwise on behalf of the University. 
  • Restricted Data has the meaning set out in the Research Data Classification Standard (ResearchHub). 
  • Sensitive Data has the meaning set out in the Research Data Classification Standard (ResearchHub).
  • Student means any person enrolled in a degree, diploma or certificate course at the University whose enrolment includes undertaking research.
  • Supervisor has the meaning set out in the Doctoral Supervision Policy and Procedures and the Masters by Research Supervision Guidelines.
  • University means Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland and includes all subsidiaries.

Key relevant documents

Document management and control

Owner: Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research

Content manager: Director, Office of Research Strategy and Integrity

Approved by: Vice-Chancellor

Date approved: TBC

Review date: TBC