Public concern about misconduct in research first surfaced in the early 1980's following reports of cases of egregious misbehavior. One researcher republished under his own name dozens of articles previously published by others. Other researchers in one way or another falsified or fabricated research results. To make matters worse, it seems as if some research institutions ignored or deliberately covered up problems rather than investigate them. Eventually Congress stepped in and required Federal agencies and research institutions to develop research misconduct policies.

Research misconduct policies provide guidance on responsible conduct in three areas. They:

• establish definitions for misconduct in research,
• outline procedures for reporting and investigating misconduct, and
• provide protection for whistleblowers (persons who report misconduct) and persons accused of misconduct.

The Health Science Center applies the federal research misconduct policies to all research and scholarly activity and define research practices that researchers must avoid. Failure to do so can result in the termination of employment or ineligibility to receive Federal funding.