Research Misconduct can be characterised as behaviours or actions that fall short of the standards of ethics, research and scholarship required to ensure that the integrity of research is upheld. It can cause harm to people and the environment, wastes resources, undermines the research record and damages the credibility of research.

Regardless of discipline and institution, the fundamental factor in ensuring the quality of research and research practices has to be the honesty of the individual investigator. Investigators should be honest with respect to their own work, which means subscribing to proper scientific practices such as acknowledging the contributions of colleagues or collaborators, ensuring veracity of data, and acting with integrity in the depiction of results and conclusions. However, investigators are also expected to be honest in relation to the work of their colleagues and peers. Colluding in, or concealing, the misconduct of others is not compatible with an environment which encourages intellectual honesty and is, therefore, in itself misconduct.

The College’s policy on, and procedures for, the investigation of allegations of research misconduct:

This policy is intended to satisfy the requirements of those who fund research at Imperial College that the College has proper mechanisms in place for the management of complaints of research fraud or misconduct.

The college has adopted the definitions of research misconduct set out in the UK Research Integrity Office model procedures. The following definitions give indicative descriptions of the types of activity covered by this Regulation. These descriptions are neither exclusive nor exhaustive. Interpretation of the terms will involve judgements, which should be guided by previous experience and decisions made on matters of misconduct in research.

1. Fabrication;

2. Falsification;

3. Misrepresentation of data and/or interests and or involvement;

4. Plagiarism;

5. Failures to follow accepted procedures or to exercise due care in carrying out responsibilities for avoiding unreasonable risk or harm to: humans; animals used in research; the environment; and the proper handling of privileged or private information or individuals collected during the research.

Enquiries about the operation of these procedures, or about potential cases of misconduct should be addressed to Jonathan Hancock, Research Integrity Officer: Jonathan.hancock@imperial.ac.uk

In accordance with its commitments under the UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity the College provides the Council with an annual report on research integrity, which includes a high-level statement on any formal investigations of research misconduct that have been undertaken in the previous year. The current report is published on the Annual statement on research integrity 2022 page.

Copies of previous years annual reports are available below:

Research integrity report 2021

Research Integrity Report 2020 [pdf]

Research Integrity Report - 2019 [pdf]

Research Integrity Report - 2018 [pdf]

Research Integrity Report - 2017 [pdf]

Research Misconduct Report - 2016 [pdf]

Some of these earlier documents do not meet accessibility requirements. Please email Jonathan Hancock, Research Integrity Officer: Jonathan.hancock@imperial.ac.uk for an accessible version.