What is Research Misconduct?
According to the Federal Policy on Research Misconduct, Research Misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
- Fabrication is making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
- Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
- Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
- Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion.
FGCU holds all individuals involved in scientific research and scholarly/creative activity to the highest ethical standards in the conduct of these activities. Faculty, staff, and students are expected to comply with generally accepted ethical and legal standards for the conduct of and reporting of possible violations in the conduct scientific research and scholarly/creative activity.
FGCU has established a Research Misconduct policy (available on the University Policies page) that applies to individuals (other than students involved in regular classroom assignments) engaged in any form of research and scholarship, funded or otherwise, in every discipline throughout FGCU.
For more information and assistance with IACUC and IRB applications, please contact the Compliance Coordinator at research@fgcu.edu.
For more information and assistance with Institutional Safety Committee (ISC), please contact Rhonda Holtzclaw at 239-590-1037 or rholtzcl@fgcu.edu.
Federal Regulations Related to Misconduct in Research- Department of Agriculture, DR 1074-001
- Department of Energy, 2 CFR 910.132
- Department of Labor, 68 FR 53862
- Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Order 3120.5
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 14 CFR 1275
- National Endowment for the Humanities, NEH Research Misconduct Policy
- National Science Foundation, 45 CFR 689
- Public Health Service, 42 CFR 93
- Veteran’s Administration, VHA Handbook 1058.2
- DHHS Office of Research Integrity, ORI Policy on Plagiarism
- DHHS/ORI: Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing
- DHHS/ORI: Infographics related to the responsible conduct of research (RCR) and the handling of research misconduct
- DHHS/ORI: Training Video Series that address integrity issues faced by those involved in research
- National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General, Semiannual Report to Congress, March 2015, Research Misconduct Investigations (pp. 23-33)
