Queen's is committed to strive for research and scholarly practices that exemplify honesty, truthfulness, fairness, respect, responsibility and the courage to adhere to these values, according to the International Center for Academic Integrity. Our commitment to research integrity calls for researchers and scholars to:
- deal fairly with colleagues and students
- adhere to relevant ethical principles
- carry out research in an honest and rigorous search for knowledge
- interpret findings according to scientific, scholarly and/or creative principles
- make results of work accessible
- identify affiliations and contributions accurately
- retain research records in accordance with relevant protocols
- honestly comply with funding agency requirements
- be proactive in rectifying integrity breaches
A corollary to this commitment to integrity is that researchers and scholars must also strive to maintain the overall integrity of the research and scholarly enterprise at the university by reporting suspected instances of breaches of research integrity to the Vice-Principal Research Portfolio. An advisor will provide confidential advice regarding the matter, prior to the individual deciding whether to submit a formal written complaint.
Institutional policy
The Queen's Senate Policy on Integrity in Research outlines expectations, definitions, and processes for reporting and investigating potential breaches of research integrity at Queen's. It applies to anyone conducting research who has an active affiliation with Queen’s, including professors (all categories), administrators, postdoctoral fellows, staff as well as graduate, undergraduate and professional students (except when the relevant faculty policy on academic integrity applies).
The policy has three broad sections:
- it describes the responsibility of researchers in upholding responsible conduct of research
- it lists examples of breaches of integrity policy
- it describes the process by which an allegation of breaches of research integrity can be made and the process by which those allegations ;will be investigated
Queen’s is responsible for ensuring that our own Senate Policy on Integrity in Research aligns with the requirements found in the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research.
Avoiding plagiarism
Whether you're a student, faculty member, or researcher, your role in promoting academic and research integrity is essential.
To support your commitment to ethical research, Queen’s offers an online course focused on understanding and avoiding plagiarism.
This course is designed to help you understand the complexities of academic and research integrity, recognize the many forms plagiarism can take, and equip you with the tools to avoid it.
Access training (Queen's NetID required)More resources
Our office provides materials to support the Queen’s community in upholding the highest standards of ethical research. These include a checklist for responsible research conduct and resources designed to help you avoid plagiarism.
Access Resources on SharePoint (Queen's NetID required)Differentiating terms
Academic integrity is a commitment to behave in accordance with the fundamental values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility along with the courage to act on these values in all academic circumstances.
Research integrity represents a commitment to strive honestly, openly and fairly for the best research practices and to report suspected instances of misconduct. Research integrity as a concept applies to all university research – the research integrity policies apply to all research except course based research which is covered by the relevant academic integrity policy.
Research ethics concerns the principles and practices that balance the protection of research participants with the legitimate goals of the research enterprise.
Examples of breaches of research integrity
Breaches of research integrity are a set of actions that violate the fundamental values that serve to create trust in the processes related to discovering new knowledge and in the scientific or scholarly outputs that result from those processes.
This is to be distinguished from honest error, from conflicting research findings, or from conflicting approaches to or interpretations of the scientific or scholarly outputs.
Here is a list of actions that would constitute breaches of research integrity:
- fabrication of data (making up data)
- falsification (manipulating data/equipment/processes to affect data)
- plagiarism
- financial misconduct
- failure to disclose conflicts of interest
- failure to comply with ethics or other regulatory requirements
- failure to recognize others’ contributions or to obtain permissions
- mismanagement of authorship
- providing incomplete or false information in applications
- submission of same article in multiple venues without notice
- destroying records to avoid detection of wrongdoing
Report a breach of research integrity
The university is committed to supporting complainants who make good faith allegations and will put in place appropriate mechanisms to protect them.
If you prefer, you can submit an anonymous allegation. Please note that anonymous allegations will be considered only if the allegation is accompanied by sufficient information to enable the assessment of the allegation and the credibility of the facts and evidence on which the allegation is based, without the need for further information from the complainant.
Get advice
- You are entitled to get advice about the research integrity process from the Dean or their delegate in your Faculty.
- If you are a member of a bargaining unit, you may seek advice from your union representatives.
- You may approach the Office of the University Ombudsperson.
- You may consult the Research Integrity Officer for procedural advice.
- At all stages, you are entitled to be accompanied to meetings by an advisor.