Senate endorses revised research misconduct policy that eliminates ambiguity
BY RAY DELGADO
The Faculty Senate last week unanimously endorsed a revision of the university's research misconduct policy to bring it in line with the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy guidelines and to eliminate what was considered an ambiguous phrase: "practices that seriously deviate from those commonly accepted within the scientific community."
The policy also has been broadened to include all research, not just "scientific," and revised to conform more with current university practices of handling misconduct. The policy change was recommended by the senate's Committee on Research and was presented by its chair, Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, the Burton J. and Deedee McMurtry Professor in the School of Engineering.
The research misconduct policy was originally issued in 1983 and states that each member of the university community has a responsibility to foster an environment that promotes intellectual honesty and integrity.
Stanford's policy, containing language used by most federal agencies, also incorporates the following definitions:
Paté-Cornell stressed that the policy aims to protect the integrity of the research record and does not focus on other improper behaviors such as violations of health and safety or personnel regulations. She added that other university policies are better suited to deal with those matters. She also noted that the policy does not consider "honest errors" to be misconduct.
The revised policy is now available in the Research Policy Handbook at http://rph.stanford.edu/2-5.html.
The annual public meeting of the Committee on Research will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25, in Room 101 of the Packard Building. Arthur Bienenstock, vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy, will speak on issues related to openness in research.