7210-40 Research Integrity Policy

Scope

College-wide; this policy applies to any employee of the College, any student enrolled and/or participating in research at the College or anyone engaged in research at the College.

Purpose

To promote a high standard of integrity and consistent and ethical practices in research done at Vanier College whether by college faculty and staff or by others granted the right to conduct research at the College.

Policy

Vanier College affirms that all research activities done by members of the college community must be performed with the highest standards of integrity. Researchers thus have the responsibilities to behave in an appropriate and trustworthy manner. The College requires honesty, accuracy and truthfulness from the researchers in their research endeavours. Academic dishonesty of any sort will not be condoned and may lead to disciplinary action being taken against the offending person(s). All researchers must adhere to the following principles:

Acknowledge the contribution of student-researchers, research assistants and co-researchers.
Gain permission to use published or unpublished works of others as well as their data and acknowledge their use.
Gather data and research materials with integrity and honesty, and never publish false data and the results obtained from them.
Reveal any conflict of interest, material or financial, to granting agencies so that the latter are not influenced in their reviews of grants applications.
Make use of funds, equipment and materials acquired for the support of research in an appropriate honest manner.
Follow the rules, regulations and requirements of the granting agencies and the College.
For any research project involving human subjects, researchers need to obtain the informed consent of participants and submit the research proposal to the research ethics committee for approval.

Research Misconduct

The non-compliance with the above-mentioned principles constitutes misconduct on the part of the researchers. Research misconduct also means the following:

Fabrication or falsification or research data.
Representing others’ works as one’s own.
Failing to comply with federal, provincial and the College regulations for the protection of human beings i.e. researchers, research participants and the public in general, and the welfare of laboratory animals used in research, if any.
Introducing computer viruses or using any other technique designed to interfere with, disrupt or harm other researches for one’s own gain.

Honest mistakes in data collection, differences in the interpretation of research data or research design do not constitute research misconduct.

Authorship Standards (RRC p3)

The need to ensure accuracy in the publication of research reports mandates that:

Each author must verify that the manuscript reflects accurately his/her contribution to the research.
One author must accept responsibility for the validity of the entire manuscript.
Authorship must be the result of having contributed in a significant manner to the intellectual and practical work on which the report is based. There is no such status as “honorary author”.
The contribution of students must be appropriately and accurately recognized.

Data Retention

Data generated during the research should remain in the department where the research was done. A copy of all research data must also be stored in the files of the Research Office.
Results should be maintained for a period not less than five years after publication or from the completion of the research. Results should be stored in a manner designed to facilitate easy access to data. Except when strong reasons for confidentiality are present, primary data should not be destroyed when such data are the only method of resolving questions of research validity, methodology and accuracy.
Agreements on ownership, publication and reproduction of primary data should be agreed among researchers before research begins. The College’s policy on Intellectual property will apply to questions of copyrights and patents.
In the absence of specific agreements among researchers, or other restrictions and limitations imposed by contract or by granting agencies, all researchers will have access to all original data and research results at all times. Members of the research team may make copies of original data for their own use as long as authorization has been obtained from the principal researcher.
The Research Office must ensure that data and research results are safeguarded when researchers leave the College. Faculty will normally take the data with them; students will leave data in the College.

Responsibilities of the Staff of the College

Researchers have the responsibility to uphold the principles listed above, to act with honesty and integrity at all times thus practicing a high standard of conduct in research and scholarship. They should show respect for the participants and maintain a level of professionalism in the management of resources pertaining to their research activities. Furthermore, researchers must not only scrupulously refrain from committing research misconduct; they must take all reasonable steps and provide guidance and information to their collaborators and those working under their supervision to prevent research misconduct.

The members of the staff including the researchers have the obligation to report any research misconduct to the College.

Responsibilities of the College

The College has the following responsibilities:

Providing an environment that will encourage a high standard of integrity in research and scholarship.
Investigating allegations of misconduct in research and scholarship and ensuring that any misconduct is dealt with as quickly as possible.
Promoting greater understanding of research ethics and a commitment to research integrity through workshops and seminars and by making the College’s research policies widely available to the members of the Vanier community.
Reporting promptly to granting agencies the allegations of misconduct and the results of the investigations.

Procedures to Report and to Investigate Misconduct in Research

The following procedures will ensure that fairness and equity are applied. They are applicable to all contraventions of the Research Integrity Policy.

Allegations

A formal complaint must be made in writing before the Coordinator of the Research Office will begin any investigation against the researcher or researchers who are the subjects of the allegations. Such complaints may be made by anyone with relevant information.
Members or participants in research who hold well-founded suspicion of misconduct on the part of any researcher may seek informal assistance and may request a preliminary investigation from the Coordinator of the Research Office. The Coordinator of the Research Office must report such complaints in writing to the Academic Dean. Such inquiries must be kept confidential.
Any members and participants who have allegations of misconduct reported to them must report that in writing to the Coordinator of the Research Office or the Academic Dean.
The Coordinator of the Research Office and Academic Dean must take reasonable steps to protect complainants, including students, staff, and research assistants when they are supervised by the person against whom the complaint has been lodged.
Anonymous allegations will not normally be entertained; however, a preliminary investigation will be initiated if compelling evidence of misconduct is received from an anonymous source.
Complaints should be sufficiently detailed to permit the Coordinator of the Research Office to understand and be able to evaluate in a preliminary manner the potential seriousness of the allegation. The Coordinator of the Research Office may require that the person making the complaint be identified if it is concluded that such identification is necessary to investigate the allegations. No one will be identified without their agreement.

Upon receiving an allegation,

Informal and Confidential Inquiry

Within five working days of receiving an allegation, the Coordinator of the Research Office must meet with the researcher named in the complaint to inform them of the complaint, provide an opportunity to respond to the charges or allegations, and determine whether the information provided resolves the issue or if grounds exist for further action.
The Coordinator of the Research Office may decide that the complaint has no merit and that no further action should be taken. In such a case, the Coordinator must immediately inform the complainant of the result of the inquiry and provide written explanations for the decision not to proceed. The complainant may appeal this decision to the Academic Dean, who will forward it to the College’s Research Ethics Appeal Board (REAB) for consideration and decision. The decision of the REAB will be binding.
If as a result of the preliminary inquiry, the Coordinator of the Research Office decides that the complaint has merit but that it may be possible to resolve it through mediation, an informal process of mediation may be followed. The Coordinator of the Research Office will attempt to find through mediation a solution which is acceptable to all the parties concerned. If the mediation is successful, no further action will be taken and the file will be destroyed. The complaint will be deemed resolved through an informal mediation process when both the complainant and the researcher agree that it has been resolved. The complaint will be considered to have been formally withdrawn.
If the mediation process fails to produce a resolution, or if the Coordinator of the Research Office decides that a formal investigation is required, the Coordinator must immediately inform the Academic Dean. The Academic Dean will appoint two members of the College Research Ethics Board to carry out the informal investigation.
The Academic Dean must ensure that the members of the informal inquiry committee are not collaborators with either the complainant or the person charged. Members shall be unbiased and have an appropriate background to judge the issues being raised.
The informal inquiry committee will meet confidentially and promptly with the person(s) at the centre of the allegation to attempt to reach a mutual agreement and solution. The committee may carry out an informal investigation, giving the person charged an opportunity to respond and explain. Within two weeks, the committee must provide a report to the Academic Dean.
Within five days of receiving the report of the informal investigative committee, the Academic Dean must decide what action to take. The Dean may determine that there are no grounds to substantiate the allegation and conclude the procedure, or determine that the allegation has merit and is sufficiently serious to warrant a formal inquiry.

Formal Inquiry

The Academic Dean will create a formal investigative committee consisting of three individuals, including the Coordinator of the Research Office, no later than five working days after receiving the report of the informal investigative committee. This formal investigative committee is authorized to decide on misconduct, and its decision is binding on the institution.
None of the members of this committee shall have been members of the informal inquiry committee. They shall be subject to the same appointment provisions as described in the informal inquiry section.
All pertinent and relevant materials will be presented to the investigative committee.
The person charged has the right to contest the nomination of any member of the investigative committee.
Any member of the investigative committee has the right to withdraw from the committee due to a conflict of interest or lack of professional competency.
The investigative committee has the right to interview any appropriate person and consult experts to verify facts pertinent to the inquiry.
The person charged will be provided with the evidence and will have the opportunity to be heard, respond to the allegations, and be accompanied by an advocate of their choosing. Until the matter has been resolved, disbursement of research project funds from the granting agency will be withheld.
Based on all the evidence from both sides, the investigative committee will make a recommendation to the Academic Dean concerning appropriate penalties or solutions.
All proceedings of the inquiry, including any interviews of involved parties, must be recorded. Copies of these documents must be stored under tightly limited access in the Research Office for a period of not less than ten years.
The inquiry should not take more than 30 days from the date of commission by the Academic Dean. The committee must submit its report no later than ten days after the end of the inquiry.
The person charged must be informed of the decision within one week. Both complainant and respondent must be provided with a draft of the committee’s report and will have five working days to submit written comments. The committee will then finalize its report to the Academic Dean, who will provide copies to the Coordinator of the Research Office, the complainant, and the respondent within five working days.
The final report must include:
- a list of the members of the committee and the reasons for their selection;
- the methods and materials used in the investigation;
- a list of persons interviewed or who provided information to the committee;
- plans and steps to be taken to restore reputations that may have been damaged and to protect complainants who have acted in good faith; and
- any other details that shed light on the process followed to reach the report’s conclusions.

Action Taken

If the allegations of misconduct are found to be groundless, no punitive action will be taken and all records will be destroyed to protect the person’s reputation. The College must take all reasonable steps to restore the reputation of those who have been unjustly accused. If the allegations have been deemed to have been unfounded, malicious, or reckless, the complainant may be subject to sanctions.
If there is evidence of misconduct, the Academic Dean, in consultation with the Director of Human Resources when appropriate, will take measures depending on the seriousness of the misconduct. The person charged will be informed in writing of the decision as well as the measures to be taken. In some cases, the nature of the misconduct may require that law enforcement agencies be notified.
The appropriate funding agencies will be notified of the investigation and the action taken, and a copy of the report of the investigation committee must be forwarded to the funding agencies within 30 working days. If the investigation was requested by the agency, a full copy of the report should be sent within 30 days, whether or not the committee has concluded that misconduct has occurred.

Recourse

The person charged and found guilty of misconduct may file an appeal to the Director General within one week after being informed. An appeal may be requested only if:

The procedures of the formal inquiry have not been followed; and
New information, not previously presented, can be provided.