The House of Commons Select Committee Report identified that, although most research-intensive universities were complying with the key recommendations of the 2012 Concordat to Support Research Integrity, around a quarter of universities were not fulfilling the basic requirements for research integrity.

The report identified the following set of recommendations:

• Strengthen the current Concordat so compliance can more easily be assessed

• Increased transparency on research misconduct required

• External members to be included on research misconduct investigation panels for serious cases

• A new committee to be responsible for championing research integrity in the sector to be established by UKRI.

Further recommendations included:

• That there was a need to publish ‘negative’ research findings, particularly in the field of medicine

• That all universities should be encouraged to subscribe to the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO)

• Research Integrity should form part of the ‘environment’ judgements for the next Research Excellence Framework

• Clearer requirements on training, contributing to research culture with particular attention to avoid the common misuse of statistics and the training being offered to doctoral students

• Employers, funders and publishers need to legally share information on research misconduct and support employers developing protocols to manage cases across institutional boundaries.

Read the full report