The policy addresses research misconduct. It does not supersede government or institutional policies or procedures for addressing other forms of misconduct, such as the unethical treatment of human research subjects or mistreatment of laboratory animals used in research, nor does it supersede criminal or other civil law. Agencies and institutions may address these other issues as authorized by law and as appropriate to their missions and objectives. The Office of Science and Technology Policy received 237 comments on the proposed Federal Research Misconduct Policy. Letters were signed by individuals, and by representatives of universities, university associations, Federal agencies, and private entities.
Comments are available for review.
Comments that resulted in a modification of the policy are summarized below. A section that addresses other questions raised by the comments follows the summary of modifications. An NSTC research misconduct policy implementation group has been formed to foster uniformity among the agencies in their implementation of the policy. This change is to clarify that the raw data collected or generated in the research process can be fabricated just as can the results of the research. A number of commenters interpreted the definition of plagiarism to imply that using material gathered during the peer review process was acceptable as long as it is cited.