At the end of 2011, Canada went through a transformative process that changed the way research is conducted on a national level. In December of that year, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) (hereafter referred to as the “Agencies”) unveiled the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research. This policy document was coupled with two other significant changes. One of which was voting to expand the mandate of the Secretariat of Research Ethics to cover not just research ethics, but also the responsible conduct of research. A new title of Secretariat on Responsible Conduct
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Their responsibilities include supporting the Panel, providing interpretation of the Framework, briefing the Panel and the Agency presidents, and providing education on responsible conduct of research (RCR). RCR as defined by the Secretariat is, “an umbrella term that refers not only to scholarly integrity of research, but to all aspects of research – from applying for funding, to conducting research, to managing research funds, to disseminating research results.” The Secretariat has other duties outside of the scope of responsible conduct of research (e.g., supporting the Panel on Research Ethics), but these tasks are of little relevance for the purposes of this paper.
Panel on Responsible Conduct of Research: The Panel’s purpose is to review cases of alleged instances of irresponsible research conduct (i.e., breaches of the Framework policy) that are submitted by institutions. Some of their duties include:
• Recommend recourse, if appropriate, consistent with the Framework.
• Provide advice to the Agencies on matters related to the responsible conduct of …show more content…
Breaches of policy cover a range of behaviors, but most revolve around the idea of misconduct. Examples of misconduct are fabrication of data, falsification of data, destruction of research records, plagiarism, invalid authorship, inadequate acknowledgment, and mismanagement of conflicts of interest. The bulk of the Framework’s scope revolves around the idea of breaches (e.g., what they are, how to move forward in the event of a breach, who’s responsible for what, etc.). In its relatively short lifespan, there have been 27 confirmed breaches from December 2011 to March 2014 (See Figures 3 & 4). The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) leads the way in the number of confirmed breaches with over half of the total (14). While this number may seem low for a two-year plus time period, there are a variety of factors that can affect these numbers, including underreporting. However, research on research misconduct shows that
Their responsibilities include supporting the Panel, providing interpretation of the Framework, briefing the Panel and the Agency presidents, and providing education on responsible conduct of research (RCR). RCR as defined by the Secretariat is, “an umbrella term that refers not only to scholarly integrity of research, but to all aspects of research – from applying for funding, to conducting research, to managing research funds, to disseminating research results.” The Secretariat has other duties outside of the scope of responsible conduct of research (e.g., supporting the Panel on Research Ethics), but these tasks are of little relevance for the purposes of this paper.
Panel on Responsible Conduct of Research: The Panel’s purpose is to review cases of alleged instances of irresponsible research conduct (i.e., breaches of the Framework policy) that are submitted by institutions. Some of their duties include:
• Recommend recourse, if appropriate, consistent with the Framework.
• Provide advice to the Agencies on matters related to the responsible conduct of …show more content…
Breaches of policy cover a range of behaviors, but most revolve around the idea of misconduct. Examples of misconduct are fabrication of data, falsification of data, destruction of research records, plagiarism, invalid authorship, inadequate acknowledgment, and mismanagement of conflicts of interest. The bulk of the Framework’s scope revolves around the idea of breaches (e.g., what they are, how to move forward in the event of a breach, who’s responsible for what, etc.). In its relatively short lifespan, there have been 27 confirmed breaches from December 2011 to March 2014 (See Figures 3 & 4). The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) leads the way in the number of confirmed breaches with over half of the total (14). While this number may seem low for a two-year plus time period, there are a variety of factors that can affect these numbers, including underreporting. However, research on research misconduct shows that