Research Integrity and the Responsible Conduct of Research

Among its duties, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is responsible for helping ensure the integrity of research programs at NSF. We investigate allegations of research misconduct (plagiarism, falsification, and fabrication) in NSF proposals and awards. OIG also handle allegations conflict of interests and violations of the confidentiality of NSF’s merit review to ensure the integrity of that process. OIG recently completed a review of how grantees implemented NSF’s requirement to provide responsible conduct of research training to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. I will briefly discuss these topics and present some recent research misconduct findings and results of our review of institutions' RCR training programs.