Which of the following is true regarding research misconduct?

Which of the following is true regarding research misconduct?

A. Funding agencies normally perform their own misconduct inquiry before the institution becomes involved.

B. A central federal agency handles all cases of research misconduct.

C. Federal funding agencies typically rely on an institution to make the initial response to an allegation of research misconduct.

D. The U.S. government is required to reveal publicly the identity of any person who commits misconduct.

Answer: C. Federal funding agencies typically rely on an institution to make the initial response to an allegation of research misconduct.

Scientific research misconduct is very rampant in today’s society and the process for handling such cases is very elaborate to make sure there is fairness in handling the case, and that whoever is handling the case gets all the facts right to protect anyone who may be involved. Most funding agencies in the federal government including the NIH or the NSF ordinarily delegate the responsibility of conducting the initial review of alleged research misconduct to the place where the research was conducted.

For instance, if a graduate student in a university has reasons to believe that a professor has inflated figures in a research project sponsored by a federal agency, where the student would normally take this information to the university’s research integrity office. The institution would then further investigate to see if the allegation does have any truth to its claim. If the inquiry called for it, then the institution would go ahead and investigate possible misconduct.

It builds upon the idea that the institution observing the research has direct contact with the subjects of the study. It enables, and provides, a quicker and more contextualized reply to allegations. The institution can easily gain documentation, talk to the involved people and review the credibility of complaints.

But this doesn’t mean that federal agencies are not involved in the religious life of the country. They are involved in supervising the process and demand updates to be made periodically. An institution, which discovers a case of malpractice, has a statutory mandate to report such a case to the funding agency. The agency then considers the findings of the institution and sometimes investigates the matter on its own.

This system protects the need to address a misconduct allegation with efficiency and knowledge while still maintaining federal supervision to guarantee equality and impartiality among the numerous institutions faced with such an allegation. It also assists in maintaining the credibility of the research business while at the same time protecting the rights of both the accuser and the accused.