Canadian policy on reporting breaches of research integrity: When should Research Ethics Boards be informed?

Publisher: Informa Healthcare Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9100813 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1545-5815 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 08989621 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Account Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: London : Informa Healthcare
Original Publication: New York : Gordon and Breach, 1989-

Ethics Committees, Research* ; Organizational Policy*; Scientific Misconduct/*ethics; Canada ; Ethics, Research ; Information Dissemination/legislation & jurisprudence ; Privacy/legislation & jurisprudence ; Trust ; Universities

In Canada, institutions that receive research funding from the three federal granting agencies must establish research ethics boards (REBs) to review the ethical acceptability of research involving humans. Institutions are also expected to promote the responsible conduct of research, fostering researchers' abilities to act with integrity in the conduct of their research. Where a researcher fails to act with integrity in research with humans, institutional policies and procedures of the U15, Canada's most research-intensive universities, vary in the extent to which they involve their REBs in response to such breaches. Some make no mention of the REB, whereas others state that their REB should be provided with information relating to upheld allegations. In this paper, we argue that when allegations of research integrity breaches are corroborated, the institution's REB should be identified as a party required to receive that information. Only then can REBs ensure compliance with research ethics standards, which is essential to maintain the public's trust.

Keywords: Research ethics; public trust; research ethics in university contexts; research integrity; responsible conduct of research

Date Created: 20190830 Date Completed: 20200731 Latest Revision: 20200731

20240104

10.1080/08989621.2019.1661243

31462108