Committee approves amendments aligning regents' research-misconduct definition with federal standards

The committee considered proposed amendments to the Board of Regents' research misconduct policy presented by Associate Vice President Joanne Billings, senior associate general counsel Kaley Klinika and Daniel Rintala, director of research integration and integrity and compliance. Presenters said the revisions remove vague catchalls and more closely mirror the federal regulatory definition used by the Office of Research Integrity (fabrication, falsification and plagiarism), add clarified intent standards ("intentional," "knowing," "reckless") and adopt a preponderance-of-evidence standard for findings.

Presenters also described a new subdivision for "detrimental research practices" to capture behaviors that threaten research integrity but fall outside the federal definition (examples given included misuse of research funds, failure to manage data properly and toxic workplace behavior). They explained that other compliance mechanisms (IRB, IACUC, HIPCO, sponsored-projects administration and the code of conduct) handle many non-federal-misconduct issues.

After discussion and clarifying questions about how the regents' policy interfaces with administrative procedures, the chair called for a motion to adopt the amendments. A motion and second were recorded, and the committee approved the amendments by voice vote (ayes recorded). The motion had been previewed at the May meeting; the committee did not record a roll-call vote at this session.