FAQ’s NIH Scientific Integrity Policy

You are expected to follow the NIH Scientific Integrity Policy if you are:

• ✔ An NIH employee
• ✔ A Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officer assigned to NIH
• ✔ An NIH Political Appointee
• ✔ An NIH Intramural Clinical, Research, or Postdoctoral Fellow
• ✔ An NIH Intramural Doctoral Trainee
• ✔ An NIH Advisory Committee Member acting in your capacity as a Special Government Employee

Under this Policy, if you propose, conduct, review, or communicate science and scientific activities on behalf of NIH, in the course of your official duty, you are expected to:

• ✔ Support and protect the integrity of research from bias and interference
• ✔ Facilitate the free flow of objective and rigorous scientific and technological information
• ✔ Ensure the quality, accuracy, and transparency of scientific information used to support policymaking and decision making
• ✔ Report incidents regarding compromised scientific processes or technological information
• ✔ Facilitate and create inclusive, safe, and respectful work environments which are essential to supporting scientific integrity

Under this Policy, you are protected from:

• ✔ Reprisal if you report allegations of loss of scientific integrity in good faith
• ✔ Coercion or intimidation to alter scientific data, findings, or professional opinions

For additional information regarding rights and remedies against retaliation, please refer to the OSP Guidance and Resources page under prohibited personnel practices.

This list is not exhaustive, but some examples include:

• ✔ Research integrity and misconduct issues (including intramural training concerns)
• ✔ Misuse of NIH grant or contractor funds or other NIH resources
• ✔ Grantee or contractor COI issues
• ✔ Human subject and or animal welfare issues
• ✔ Discrimination and harassment issues
• ✔ Foreign interference concerns
• ✔ Political interference concerns

In the NIH Scientific Integrity Policy, political interference is defined as inappropriately shaping or interfering in the conduct, management, communication, or use of science for inappropriate partisan advantage such that it undermines impartiality, objectivity, nonpartisanship, or professional judgment. There is an appropriate role for political appointees and elected officials in Agency processes involving science, including setting priorities and making decisions informed by many inputs, including scientific information. Political involvement or undue external influence becomes interference when it seeks to undermine an Agency’s impartiality, nonpartisanship, and professional judgment. For example, it would be considered inappropriate for a political appointee or elected official to exert the influence of their position in a manner that seeks to distort or misuse the science behind a decision for inappropriate partisan advantage by:

• altering, distorting, or changing science or scientific documents or documents derived from them without scientific justification
• downplaying or exaggerating certain results
• undermining the expertise of Federal scientists by re-assignment to other duties or denying career advancement.

If you believe that loss of scientific integrity has occurred, you may reach out for an informal consultation. For more information on who you should contact for each type of potential allegation, please refer to the OSP Guidance and Resources page.

Where you should report an allegation will depend on the allegation itself. For specific information on where each type of allegation should be reported, please refer to the OSP Guidance and Resources page.

At a minimum, your allegation should include:

• ✔ A detailed description of the alleged incident, including, to the extent possible, dates, locations, witnesses, publications, impacted funding sources, and how you became aware of the issue.
• ✔ A brief explanation of the allegation of political interference, including specific violations of the NIH Scientific Integrity Policy.
• ✔ Evidence or documents supporting the allegation, such as email records or correspondence.

If possible, your allegation should include:

• ✔ A statement indicating whether the allegation has been submitted elsewhere (e.g., the NIH Ethics Office, NIH Office of Human Resources, HHS Office of Inspector General) and, if applicable, the outcome of that allegation. Previous submission elsewhere will not impact the assessment of your allegation.
• ✔ Your name and contact information.

For further information on how to submit your allegation to the NIH SIO, please refer to the OSP Guidance and Resources page under political interference.

The NIH Policies and Procedures for Promoting Scientific Integrity, which was revised in 2022, reflects more than a decade of updates to agency policies and procedures that support scientific integrity. It includes information on policies that support: peer review, protections for participants in research, humane care and use of animals in research, safe and respectful work environments, adjudicating research misconduct, access to research information and results, and training in the responsible conduct of research.