The research misconduct post hoc inquiry as a measure of institutional integrity (DR)

ABSTRACT

The terms, institutional and scientific, integrity appeared in the literature 986 times from 2005 to 2015. How has the term integrity, with its dual definition, a) The accuracy, completeness and consistency of data and b) the adherence to a code of moral values, been applied to an institution? The authors suggest that a post hoc inquiry be instituted following the finding of an individual act of research misconduct to determine if the sponsoring institution, actively or passively, played a contributory role and if corrective action was taken. This would serve as one measure of institutional integrity.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrity
• research misconduct
• post hoc inquiry
• measure of institutional integrity
• corrective action
• institutional integrity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.