Date:          September 30, 2016

To:             All Faculty

From:         Peter Schiffer, Vice Chancellor for Research

Subject:     Annual Message on Research Integrity

Members of the campus community are expected to assure quality and integrity in the pursuit of their scholarly activities. It is important for students, faculty, and staff to familiarize themselves with the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) standards that are central to those scholarly pursuits. Please share this message with all members of your research team, including both staff and students.

The University of Illinois Policy for addressing particular instances of unethical research and publication practices is available online at:

https://www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/UserFiles/Servers/Server_420372/File/Integrity-Policy.pdf

Research misconduct is a serious violation of both University Policy and the shared ethical standards for proposing, conducting, and reporting research. Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

• Fabrication: Making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
• Falsification: 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: Appropriating another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.

Please refer to the University Policy for other examples of misconduct. Note that honest errors or differences of opinion are not considered research misconduct.

For a summary of federal regulations, campus policies, guidelines, and educational resources related to research integrity and professional ethics, please see: https://research.illinois.edu/regulatory-compliance-safety/research-integrity-and-ethics.

If you have any questions about research integrity, please contact our Campus Research Integrity Officer, Kyle Galbraith, at rsofficer@illinois.edu.