Groups Issue Guidance on Managing Confidentiality During Research Integrity Investigations
Institutions wrestling with questions of whether—and when—to tell individuals outside an organization when a research integrity investigation is underway should find some guidance in a document issued by the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) with the assistance of the Association of Research Integrity Officers (ARIO). As the groups explained in the introduction, the 17-page document “grew out of informal discussions among academic institutional representatives charged with handling research misconduct processes and was created as an educational tool,” and it establishes a “framework of institutional considerations regarding when and how research misconduct matters can or should be disclosed.”
The document describes two research misconduct scenarios, discussing “management considerations” associated with contacting journals, speaking to the news media, handling the transfer of grants and restoring reputations, among other topics. COGR and ARIO hope to “identify core confidentiality challenges and to provide guidance on potential strategies to be considered on a case-specific basis, within the context of institutional policies, procedures, applicable regulations and state laws, and in concert with guidance from institutional counsel and leadership.”
