Concordat on Research Integrity
We are pleased to share that the UK Committee on Research Integrity will soon take on the Secretariat role for the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group. The Concordat is the highly regarded foundation for much of the work that supports integrity across the UK. We look forward to working with the Concordat Signatories Group to plan next steps and to support the research sector to continue to enhance integrity practices. As discussions about arrangements for the Secretariat provision move forward, we will give updates in our newsletter and website.
We would like to extend our appreciation to Universities UK who have provided support to the Concordat Signatories Group since its inception.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and research integrity
The Committee are exploring the intersection of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and research integrity. Our objective is to work with the research sector to identify how integrity can be embedded where AI is used in research. This includes identifying support and guidance that may be needed to ensure that the benefits of AI can be realised whilst trust in research is maintained.
In the 2024 annual statement, the Committee published its view on emerging themes and questions for the research sector. Since then, the Committee has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders via correspondence and meetings to refine these seven themes.
Stakeholder engagement is ongoing. In the meantime, please get in touch if you have any points, you would like us to consider. We will deliver a full set of recommendations in 2025.
Our workstream on addressing poor research practice and research misconduct
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has on behalf of the Committee appointed RAND Europe to deliver the ‘Addressing research misconduct in the UK’ tender. The commission is being informed by the Committee’s cross sector working group on ‘poor research practice and research misconduct’ and will deliver three concurrent workstreams:
- Providing evidence on the UK Higher Education research sector’s governance of research misconduct.
- Exploring international models for managing research misconduct in Higher Education Institutions.
- Exploring models that include assurance and regulation in UK sectors outside of Higher Education Institutions.
Working group meeting updates are published on the project page.
Case studies
Last year the Committee commissioned Exotopic to deliver a series of case studies, to show a range of examples of good practice across the research integrity principles. We were delighted to work with colleagues across the sector to showcase the things they are proud of in their integrity-related endeavours.
In this issue we are pleased to share three of these commissioned case studies:
- 100 Black Women Professors Now – supporting the core principle of care and respect with an initiative dedicated to bringing about systemic change through supporting black women’s career progression and therefore increasing black female representation and diversity across the scholarly ecosystem
- The Health Research Authority (HRA): Making it Public – the public are vital to health research, and they deserve honesty and transparency. This case study shows the HRA’s commitment to achieving these aims.
- ReproducibiliTea – previously published in our Annual Statement 2023 and now available as a stand-alone case study demonstrating rigour via a grassroots reproducibility initiative.
You can read these and previously published case studies in our work on the Committee’s website.
If you have a case study demonstrating your work on research integrity and best practice, we want to hear from you. We are pleased to invite submission of case studies for future publication on our website. Our guidelines for this can be found here.
UKRI data for metascience sandpit
We would like to draw attention to the recently launched UKRI Data for Metascience Sandpit. The opportunity brings together researchers and stakeholders from across the R&D system to co-develop projects that address metascience challenges using UKRI data.
UKRI are inviting expressions of interest to attend a four-day interactive sandpit to develop novel projects that can address multi-faceted metascience questions related to research and development (R&D) funding and inform R&D policymaking. To find out more and apply visit: UKRI Data for Metascience Sandpit.
UK Committee on Research Integrity: reflections, October 2024 meeting
The Committee were kindly hosted by UK Research and Innovation in London where we met to discuss future workstreams and priorities and to share insights gained from our broad range of community engagements and conversations. We had a very rich range of productive discussions during the day, benefitting from the wide range of knowledge, experience, perspectives and backgrounds that exist across the committee.
As a Committee, we are building on lessons learned from our completed projects and workstreams and from the evidence on research integrity that we’ve commissioned or created. We are also listening to feedback from the community on the value of our work and activities, and on how our work and publications are being received and used by the wider research sector. We believe that there are many positives to build upon.
What emerged from our productive day of discussions was a better understanding of our role and reach in the wider research sector. As a Committee, we discussed how we could move forward with strengthened confidence to not just build the evidence for research integrity but to make informed recommendations on the basis of that evidence and our wider work as well. We discussed how we can best employ what we’ve learned over past two years to shape decisions and priorities for the coming year, which include our projects on AI and research misconduct.
An important focus of the day was the continuing need to highlight the value of research integrity for the UK, economically, socially and for environmental sustainability. Research integrity takes investing in and is a valuable investment to make; a valuable reminder in times of financial pressures and constraints.
Jane Alfred, UK Committee on Research Integrity Member