Research misconduct

As part of an environment which supports good practice it is important to be able to identify and deal quickly and effectively with allegations of unacceptable practice.

All individuals working in research should feel able to raise concerns about standards of research conduct with the relevant senior person responsible for assuring good research conduct.

Research misconduct can take many forms, including:

fabrication: making up results or other outputs and presenting them as if they were real
falsification: manipulating research processes or changing or omitting data without good cause
plagiarism: using other people’s material without giving proper credit
failure to meet ethical, legal and professional obligations: for example failure to declare competing interests; misrepresentation of involvement or authorship; misrepresentation of interests; breach of confidentiality; lack of informed consent; misuse of personal data; and abuse of research subjects or materials.
improper dealing with allegations of misconduct: failing to address possible infringements such as attempts to cover up misconduct and reprisals against whistle blowers.

Protocol for investigating and resolving allegations of misconduct in academic research

Named contact

Any allegation of misconduct in academic research should be made to the University Secretary and Registrar (though, if preferred, the initiator may communicate the allegation to the Secretary through the head of the school or the executive dean of the faculty concerned or through some other senior member of the University).

Jennifer Sewel
University Secretary and Registrar
University-Secretary@leeds.ac.uk