During the six-month period that ended March 31, the National Science Foundation (NSF) debarred three investigators for research misconduct and imposed lesser sanctions on three others, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported.[1]
Research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. OIG investigates these misdeeds in NSF-funded research, although at times, an investigator may also have support from NIH—as in one of the debarment cases—or from other federal agencies. As is its practice, OIG does not disclose the names of researchers or their institutions, nor details that could lead to their identification unless other actions against them have already been made public, such as a criminal or civil charge.
Debarments range from one-to-three years. Other NSF actions OIG described in its spring semiannual report (SAR) to Congress include the suspension of 18 awards related to misconduct findings, but that also resulted from undisclosed ties between principal investigators (PIs) and foreign institutions or programs, as RRC discussed in the July issue.[2]
Student Also Reported to ORI
The most serious sanction—the three-year debarment—was imposed on a former graduate student who was found to have falsified and fabricated data laboratory progress notes for more than three years. The student was a graduate research program recipient whose work was supported by both NIH and NSF.
“Specifically, the student allegedly rotated and cropped images and used identical images to represent different results. The university investigated and concluded that the student intentionally committed fabrication and falsification,” OIG reported in the fall 2021 SAR.[3]
“The university prohibited the student from applying for or receiving federal or external research funding, prohibited the student from serving as a teaching assistant or fellow, and reported the matter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity [ORI].”
OIG said the university also “dismissed the student from the university, prohibited the student from reapplying to the university, and prevented the student from earning a degree based on prior work.”
In addition to debarment, for four years (during the debarment and for one year afterward), the former graduate student is required to submit what are called contemporaneous certifications and assurances.
Certifications are statements attesting that “any proposals or reports submitted to NSF do not contain plagiarized, falsified, or fabricated material.” Assurances, submitted by a “responsible official” of a sanctioned individual’s employer “that any proposals or reports submit[ed] to NSF do not contain plagiarized, falsified, or fabricated material.” NSF frequently requires these in cases in which it makes a research misconduct finding.
The individual is also barred from being a peer reviewer or adviser to NSF and must submit a data management plan with any NSF funding application. OIG recommended these actions extend for two years after the debarment.
