Former Research Integrity Officer for U.S. Institutions AMA!
Hey Gradschool! I am a former research integrity officer and have worked for two different U.S. Institutions on research misconduct cases. Over the years I've seen some questions on this subreddit that are in that realm, either regarding plagiarism, p values, cherry picking, etc. I wanted to offer this post as a way that you can ask anything you would like about the topic, and I will do my best to respond.
I wanted to at least give some basic background information about the field for those who might not know all of this. This is regarding research integrity. Academic integrity at universities have their own separate policies and procedures on how to handle that. Academic integrity usually just involves assignments/homework/classwork. Research integrity pertains to any research done at the University.
Every university has a department/office of research integrity. That office receives reports of potential research misconduct from anyone who contacts them. Contacting your office can be done anonymously, but if your claim has merit, you may be asked to provide more information and your identity may have to be shared with the person being investigated. There are 3 steps to this process, assessment/inquiry/investigation. When the office receives a claim of research misconduct, they conduct an assessment to see if it meets the criteria of what research misconduct is. Research misconduct falls under 3 broad areas of falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP). Honest errors/mistakes do not constitute research misconduct.
Please post any questions you have on the topic, and I would love to help answer anything you have! If you have more personal questions or I feel an answer would be better given over a DM, I will respond and let you know.
AMA!