Research Councils United Kingdom (RCUK), a group of seven funding organizations that include various fields of knowledge, has released a new version of its code of good practices. The main new addition is a drastic decision to cut funding for universities and research institutes that fail to properly investigate cases of scientific misconduct.
The document, called RCUK Policy and Guidelines on the Governance of Good Research Conduct, supersedes the rules that had been in effect since 2009. It specifies a variety of examples of misconduct, such as fabricating or falsifying data or images, misrepresenting information, and conflicts of interests, among others. After an investigation, researchers found guilty of misconduct may be forbidden from applying to the RCUK for new funding for a given period of time, or even indefinitely. According to the magazine Times Higher Education, the decision to also punish negligent universities is a response to a recent report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which criticized the RCUK for continuing to fund institutions involved in fraud.
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