Integrity, honesty, accuracy, transparency, and accountability are foundational principles that should guide our research, scholarship, and creative work. We would have a major problem if we could not trust that, for example, our food and water are safe to consume, the medicines we are treated with are therapeutic and not harmful, and the materials used in the houses we live in are structurally sound.
The scientific method inexorably generates new knowledge and new facts. Lack of research/scholarship integrity produces fake knowledge and alternative facts; something that everyone involved in the scientific enterprise is duty bound to prevent.Dooling and Thompson, Acoustics Today 16 (2020) 89
Safeguarding the integrity of research and creative activities is fundamental to the mission of Michigan State University. We owe no less to the public which sustains institutions like ours and to the governmental agencies and private entities which sponsor the research enterprise.
What is the meaning of research integrity?
There are a few general definitions within the scientific community.
The integrity of knowledge that emerges from research is based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship (NASEM, 2017).
Research integrity pertains to (i) the use of honest and verifiable methods in proposing, performing, and evaluating research or scholarship, (ii) reporting research results with particular attention to adherence to rules, regulations, guidelines, and (iii) following commonly accepted professional codes or norms (ORI NIH).
Research integrity means conducting research in a way which allows others to have trust and confidence in the methods used and the findings that result from this. Within the University, conducting research with integrity also means meeting the professional standards expected of our researchers (University of Bath, UK).