Aims
Research Consulting was appointed by the UK Committee on Research Integrity and Research Integrity Concordat Signatories (RICS) Group to analyse annual statements from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Government departments and Independent Research Organisations published between 2022-2024 following a previous iteration published in 2023.
The project sought to:
- Analyse and summarise the evidence base provided by HEIs, Government departments and Independent Research Organisations to understand what the information tells us about the state of research integrity in the UK.
- Explore annual statements via topical deep dives and a further landscape scanning exercise co-designed with the project’s Advisory Group. This sought to highlight key features, best practices and topics that are ‘on the radar’ of organisations producing annual statements.
Partnership
The Committee partnered with the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories to carry out the work and established a small advisory group to provide strategic oversight to the project.
Background
In 2023, Research Consulting on behalf of the Committee and RICS undertook an analysis of 280 research integrity statements produced between academic years 2019/2020 and 2021/2022. These statements were published by institutions in response to the expectations of the 2019 Concordat to Support Research Integrity, most recently updated in 2025. Under commitment five of the Concordat, employers of research are required to produce and publish a short annual statement on research integrity. The statement must provide a summary of activities undertaken that support and strengthen understanding of research integrity and include data on the number of research misconduct investigations conducted.
While the data produced within these statements were not intended for analysis, it can serve as a valuable source of information on institutional efforts over time and offer a more complete understanding of research integrity across the system.
Key findings
- The share of annual statements available to analyse over time is broadly consistent, with 78% found for 2022/23 and 75% for 2023/24.
- There is a noteworthy increase in the use of the annual statement template commissioned by the RICS Group within HEIs.
- A majority of HEIs report on misconduct allegations and investigations. Consistent with the 2023 report, the top three reported reasons for allegations of research misconduct are: failure to meet legal, ethical and professional obligations, followed by plagiarism and misrepresentation.
- Examination of established areas of research integrity provision show that good practices tailored to local contexts continue to be applied, though monitoring and evaluation are limited.
- HEIs are actively addressing new challenges and developments, in response to a continually changing external landscape.
- Statements produced within government and other research organisations (e.g. laboratories, charities, cultural institutions), while fewer in number, show signs of growing activity.
- Annual statements produced within government are more streamlined and follow a customised template.
- Annual statements developed by research organisations other than HEIs are typically concise and cover topics similar to those covered by HEIs.
Read the full report (pdf)
Read the standalone executive summary (pdf)
Read a standalone report on insights from annual statements produced within government (pdf)