Research Integrity in the UK: Annual Statement 2024

The UK Committee on Research Integrity is delighted to announce the publication of its second annual statement. The 2024 statement describes the overall health of integrity in our UK research system.

The 2024 statement indicates that UK research integrity is strong, but there is no room for complacency. It also recommends actions that organisations and individuals can take to enhance focus on integrity, which include:

Higher education institutions (HEIs): to maintain transparency and accountability, it is vital that all HEIs meet expectations of the Concordat in the UK by producing and publishing annual statements on research integrity.

Researchers funders and commissioners: to maintain accountability, with minimal bureaucratic burden, funders and commissioners need to work together to help research performing organisations, by providing the support that those organisations need and harmonising what is asked of them regarding integrity.

All research-performing organisations, including government departments and agencies: to demonstrate high standards of integrity, all research-performing organisations should be transparent about how they sustain and develop integrity.

Research publishers: to support the principles of integrity, research publishers need to demonstrate how they follow their own guidelines in support of research integrity.

All groups involved in research assessment: to help set the standard for the sector, groups involved in research assessment, including in relation to the Research Excellence Framework, should continue to embed principles of integrity in their approaches.

The statement also describes current UK practice through attention to the principles of research integrity, followed by a spotlight section which sets out our current work on indicators of research integrity, research misconduct processes, and AI. These are complemented by new analysis of international data on retraction of scientific publications, and analysis of material from the UK’s Culture, Employment and Development of Academic Researchers Survey.

The UK Committee on Research Integrity works on behalf of the sector. We extend our thanks to all colleagues who have given their time and expertise to inform, challenge and encourage our endeavours. Our work is only possible with the effort of everyone in the sector and we look forward to ongoing, further engagement to support research integrity in the UK.

We hope that you will find the statement interesting and informative.